My Finest Hour
by degrassichick
Summary: In order to graduate, Jay has to get a tutor. When that tutor winds up being none other than Emma Nelson...Jay gets a whirlwind of emotions he had never wanted, until now. Complete!
1. Tutor Time

**AN: Hey all, degrassichick92 here.**

**Now normally I would go into about how much I hope you guys like this story, which I still will but first I'd like to already put in that half of the credit for this story goes to Linzer B…she thought of this great storyline, all I did was make and write the story, but it was her idea.**

**Anyways, I hope you like it (told you I'd say it).**

**So here is _My Finest Hour_.**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick92**

**- - - - -**

**Chapter 1**

**- - - - -**

Degrassi Junior, Emma Nelson felt near queasy, she was catching bits and pieces of the conversation, "Jay…he may need a bit of tutoring…you…Toby…Liberty…you get paid at the end of every week…if he doesn't pull up his grade he won't graduate," Ms. Kwan said.

"So it might not be me…?" Emma questioned.

Ms. Kwan shook his head, "No, you, Toby or Liberty. You'd get paid 75 dollars each week, but I highly recommend that you do it…"

_75 bucks? To tutor Hobart!? _

"Toby's smarter than me," Emma objected.

"It would help improve your grade too…not that it needs improvement, but it'd help you graduate a year early. Jay doesn't know yet, but I'm going to tell him once he gets to class,"

Emma sighed, she definitely needed the money, with Snake's high hospital bills he hadn't been able to be teaching since his cancer came back and Spike was struggling to maintain two jobs, "I'll think about it…I mean nothings definite yet right?"

Ms. Kwan nodded, "Nothing yet, thank you Emma, now you better hurry…the bell rang five minutes ago, and my class is showing up…I'll write you a note so you're not late to Mr. Armstrong's,"

Emma nodded as she scribbled down a pass and handed it to Emma with a smile.

"Thank you," Emma said and tucked it in the pocket of her khaki pants, and hurried out of the classroom.

- - - - -

"I don't need a tutor," Jay objected to Ms. Kwan.

"Yes, if you want to graduate you do," Ms. Kwan said sternly, "You have a choice though of a tutor," she said a bit more brightly.

"Oh yeah?" Jay asked boredly, "Who?"

Ms. Kwan smiled, "Toby Issacs, Liberty Van Zandt or Emma Nelson,"

_Great, a geek, a nerd, and the biggest bitch on the face of the earth. Thanks Kwan. _

"Is it really necessary?"

Ms. Kwan nodded, "Who'll it be?"

_You're serious?_

"Emma…I guess," Jay shrugged.

_Yuck._

"Just who I thought you should pick, Emma will be great," Ms. Kwan smiled.

Jay rolled his eyes, "When do we start?"

"Monday, five hours a day, five days a week,"

_What the fuck? Are you borderline insanity? Five hours daily with Green Peace?!_

Jay groaned and stalked out of the classroom.

- - - - -

"Yo Green Peace," a familiar voice said from behind Emma, who was twirling her combination into her locker.

Emma sighed and ran a hand through her long straight blonde hair and she spun around, "What?"

Jay walked closer, "You're starting to tutor me on Monday, five hours a day, five days a week,"

Emma's mouth dropped open, "Why didn't you pick Toby or even Liberty?"

"They're geeks,"

"And I'm…" Emma drifted off, knowing an insult was coming her way.

"Worse than them, but you look the most normal,"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Gee thanks,"

Jay returned the eye roll, "Now look, you don't say anything about this to _anyone_,"

Emma stared at him dully, "As if you're something to brag about,"

"Just don't okay?"

"Whatever, if it's because you don't want anyone to know you're dumb…don't worry, they already know,"

"Ooh, feisty are we?"

"Just shut up," Emma said and slammed her locker door, forgetting what she even needed it for and stalked off down the hallway.

Jay leaned against her locker, watching her walk away, _Man, she is sure one hell of a fireball._

- - - - -

"In this form of a sentence, the verb would come before the subject while in this one it is vice versa," Emma tried showing Jay the order of sentences, it was useless.

He had the mind of a third grader when it came to English.

"You don't understand any of this do you?" Emma asked, turning to face him.

Jay shook his head, "Nope,"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Didn't think so,"

"I might if I knew what you were talking about!" Jay exclaimed.

Emma threw her hands up in frustrating, "I'm trying to teach it to you!"

"Shh," the librarian shushed them.  
School had gotten out fifteen minutes earlier and they met in the library after they figured everyone they knew were gone.

Jay sighed, "Well you could try to describe it with a bit more oomph,"

Emma groaned, "Why do I even bother?" she asked herself.

"Because you just do…" Jay answered.

Emma glanced up, "I said that aloud?"

Jay smirked, "You didn't know?"

Emma sighed, "Let's try this one more time," she said and showed him the sentence.

- - - - -

After another forty-five minutes of Emma describing everything to Jay drug by, Emma's alarm on her cell phone went off.

"Shit," Emma whispered.

"What?" Jay asked, looking up from the book and turning to her.

"I have to go pick up my brother from daycare, just meet me at my house in like a half hour or something, my mom won't be home until late and my dad's with Joey for a few days,"

"I could give you a ride," Jay said, standing up.

"You don't have to," Emma stood up, grabbing her books and scooping them into her arms before tossing them into her mint green messenger bag.

"It'll be fine," Jay said, wrangling his keys out of his pocket and heading to the door.

Emma sighed and followed him heading outside to his Civic.

She climbed in the passenger seat as he put the key in the ignition and sped off.

"So how are we going to be able to tolerate each other for five hours a day?" Jay asked as they drove along the road.

"Well," Emma said, "We'll have to find someway to…"

"I don't want anyone knowing that I need a tutor, especially not Alex, Amy, Towerz or any of my friends,"

"Sorry if you're embarrassed, it's your own fault,"

"That I got a bad grade?"

Emma glared at him as if it was obvious.

"Fine," Jay said, "But like I said, no one sees us,"

Emma nodded, "Fine, pull in here," she said as they almost drove right past Jack's daycare center.

- - - - -

"Thanks for helping me pick him up," Emma said, climbing out of the passenger seat, with Jack in her lap as Jay got out of the drivers.  
Jay nodded, "Yeah," he said, "So this is where you live…"

"Um…yeah?" Emma questioned.

"Sorry, just looking," Jay said.

_You make no sense._

"Uh huh…you've been here before…when we went to Wasaga?" Emma said confusingly.

"Right, sorry…let's just get inside,"

_There you go._

"Sure," Emma said and walked inside of the house, Jack bouncing on her shoulder and her messenger bag slapping against her hip.

Jay followed her and the two disappeared through the door.

- - - - -

"You are so frustrating!" Emma exclaimed.

"What?" Jay asked.

"Didn't you learn this in like fourth grade or something?"

"Like I paid attention," Jay scoffed.

"Maybe you'd pay attention if you just had Toby or Liberty tutor you,"

"Whatever, I don't need this shit," Jay said standing up and heading out of her house, slamming the door behind him.

Emma leaned her head against her couch, she wanted to sink to the ground when she heard her doorbell ring.

She headed to the door, opening it up.

And saw Jay.

- - - - -

R&R!

Lotsa love, degrassichick92


	2. Messed Up Plans

**AN: Hey everyone.**

**That was pretty awkward seeing that I had like 20 reviews on one chapter. That probably sounds really lame to a lot of you, but it was pretty surprising for me-makes me feel loved. Ha-ha. **

**Bel1011: I read and reviewed your story…pretty good (thumbs up)**

**Lizi: I totally agree with you, I love the idea of Jay and Emma getting together! Especially since in the episode Secret part 1 and 2 they somewhat kind of get together, which like made my heart almost stop beating so…yeah.**

**-x-**

**Thank you everyone for the reviews and here is Chapter 2!**

**R&R! **

**Lotsa love,**

**degrassichick92**

**OH AND MY MOST IMPORTANT NOTE: I am so frickin sorry for the long wait for the update of this story! I had such a big writers block, SO SORRY!**

**-x-**

**Chapter 2**

x-

"Back so soon?" Emma asked, arms crossed over her chest.

"Yeah, yeah," Jay said and let himself inside, brushing past her.

"Let's just get this over with," he said and sat down at her kitchen table.

"Mind if I ask what you're doing back?" Emma asked.

"I just wanna graduate okay?" Jay asked, staring at the table.

"Okay…" Emma said and sat down across from him, pulling out her English textbook, "Is the only class you need tutoring with?" she asked.

Jay scoffed, "I wish, Math, History, English, even Media Immersion,"

"So I guess the only class you're good at is Auto Shop right?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah whatever, let's just do this,"

Emma sighed, this would take a while.

x-

"Em!" Manny Santos called out, running up the Degrassi school steps to meet up with Emma who was just about to open the door.

"What?" Emma asked, spinning around.

"Where were you last night? I called you after school but nobody picked up," Manny said, straightening her white muscle tank.

Emma looked over Manny's not so revealing outfit. She was wearing a white muscle tank with a hot pink leather jacket over it and a pair of faded flare blue jeans. Her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail and her white messenger bag was hanging to her waist.

"Did you try my cell?" Emma asked as they walked into the school.

"Yeah, it rang a lot, you must have had it on silent or something, where were you?"

"Library," Emma said, not wanting to get into details about what she was doing at the library.

"That explains it," Manny said with a laugh.

Emma returned the laugh and then saw Jay walking down the hallway with his arm around Alex.

"I can't believe she's even still dating that skeeze, I mean after what he did to her and to Amy and to you, it's disgusting," Manny said, "I am so lucky you're not doing that anymore, Em,"

"Do we even have to talk about all the crap that happened last year?" Emma asked, turning to her friend.

"No, sorry," Manny said looking at the ground.

It didn't matter anymore, now the remembrance of the Gonorrhea and what happened with Jay in the van was struck in her head.

"I wonder if he even thinks about any of that anymore," Manny questioned.

"Doubt it. Alex forgave him, Amy forgave him,"

"You probably forgave him," Manny chimed in.

"As if Santos," Emma said with a scoff.

"So you're going to tell me you haven't said a single word to him, of love or hate since last year?" Manny asked.

_Well actually..._

"Not hate and _definitely_ not love,"

Manny nodded, "Which is a good thing, Jay's nothing but trouble, I mean he practically got _expelled_ last year because of the whole Rick thing! Spinner did get expelled though," Manny said, solemnly looking at the ground.

"Forget about Spin and Jay, Manny. They're back now." Emma said.

Manny glanced up and saw Spinner walking down the hallway, "I know." She said, "I have to go though…I'll see you." She said and ran off, past Spinner, brushing against his shoulder.

Spinner glanced at her sadly before walking off.

Emma watched him before she felt something press against her palm and Jay walk off in front of her.

Emma glanced around and pulled the piece of paper off of her palm, unfolding it and reading it:

_Emma-_

_Where are we tutoring today? I need to know where we're supposed to meet._

_-Jay_

_P.S. Just slip a reply into my locker, I don't want to have everybody seeing Green Peace passing me note, especially not notes about me getting tutored._

Emma rolled her eyes at the ending note before tucking it into her pocket and walking down the hallway.

x-

Jay twirled in his locker combination and beat on it as it wouldn't open on him…again.

"Stupid peace of…" he drifted off once he kicked it and it popped open.

He saw a slip of paper tumble down with the name Jay across the top of the folded note, he knew it was from Emma.

He snagged it and unfolded it.

_Jay_

_As if giving it to you in public was what I was going to do in the FIRST place. Anyways, we might as well just tutor at my house tonight. But not right after school I have to do some stuff, so just come over at like six or something. _

_-Emma_

Jay rolled his eyes.

_Six? That means I have to be at her house until late…damn that sucks._

"What are you looking at?" he heard a voice behind him.

Jay turned around and saw Alex staring at him.

"Nothing." Jay said and crumpled up the paper, tossing it into the nearby trashcan.

"What are we doing after school today?" Alex asked.

"Uh…I don't know?"

"There's a party at Amy's tonight, starts at seven." Alex stated.

"Awesome I'll pick you up at-" Jay stopped when he saw Emma walking down the hallway, giving him a reminder that he had to be tutored tonight.

"When?" Alex asked, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her black cargo pants.

"Actually, never mind. I can't. I got other plans, besides don't you have to work or something?" Jay asked.

"I asked Paige to take over my shift." Alex answered, "What do you have planned that I can't be a part of?"

"Just stuff. Don't worry about it." Jay said as the bell rang.

He gave Alex a kiss on her forehead, "I'll see you later." He said and walked off down the hallway.

Alex rolled her eyes and stared at Jay's open locker. She kicked it shut and stalked off down the hallway.

x-

Emma thanked Manny for the ride home and got out of the car, racing up her porch steps and going inside.

"Dad?" she called out for Snake.

She saw Snake come down the hallway with a baseball cap over his forehead, "Hey Emma." He said with a smile.

"Hey…heading out for your checkups?" she asked.

Snake nodded regretfully, "But of course. Your mom and I are going out to dinner however after she gets off work so would it be okay if you watched Jack tonight? We'll be back around midnight at the latest, we're meeting Joey and Caitlin for drinks after so…"

"Sure…I guess." Emma said with a shrug.

"Alright, thanks Em. Here's my cell and here's the number of the restaurant we'll be at. You know that if you have any trouble with anything just call, we'll pick up." He said and handed her over a piece of paper with phone numbers scribble on it.

Emma nodded, "Okay."

"Thanks Em…see you later." Snake said, planting a kiss on his forehead and then walking over to Jack who was sitting on his little tricycle.

"See you later kiddo." Snake said, raking his hands through what little of brown curls he had.

"See you guys." He said with a wave and walked out the door.

"Bye." She said to the closed door and then glanced over at Jack who was staring at her with his dopey gray eyes.

She crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the floor before walking over to her brother.

She glanced at him with a smile before swooping him up, "You tired?"

Jack nodded slightly, "Yes."

Ever since Jack's first word was "Snake" which everybody found quite humorous, it's seemed as if he learned five words a day, which they thought was very good.

"Then come on, let's lay you down." She said with a smile and walked him into his bedroom.

He still had a crib but Spike and Snake were planning on getting him a real bed as soon as he hit his third birthday in a few weeks. She wasn't sure if it would really happen however, they barely had any money anymore with Snake's hospital bills and him no longer working at Degrassi.

Spike took every open shift she possibly could and was working another job every other night as a bartender, the thought of her mom working in a bar drove Emma crazy but it paid the bills so she couldn't really complain.

Jack lay down and grabbed his blue blanket, covering himself up with it and closing his eyes.

"Night, Buddy…I love you."

"Night Emmy." Jack said.

She knew it wouldn't be goodnight though, he'd be up in an hour, hungry for food.

This whole, going out to dinner and then out for drinks thing really screwed up Emma's plans.

She was expecting her mom to be home at six o'clock so that she could watch Jack and then Emma would be able to tutor Jay without any distractions but now that wouldn't happen.

Now she would have to baby-sit Jack and tutor Jay at the same time!

She walked out of Jack's bedroom and down the hallway; her bag was sitting on the floor, with her textbooks for her homework in it.

She pulled out her books and decided to get a start on her homework since Jay would be there at six and she wouldn't be able to do her homework then because he would be at her house until probably midnight!

She scribbled down her math rapidly, working each problem as best as she could before moving onto her English.

It was gonna be a long night.

x-

By the time six o'clock rolled around, she had finished her homework, fed Jack, bathed Jack, and fallen asleep.

Jay rolled his eyes as he pounded on her door for a fifth time before he finally just stepped in.

"You can't just answer the door like a normal person, can you Green Peace?" he asked as he walked into the living room.

He saw Jack sitting on the floor watching a videotape and Emma laying on the couch with a blanket draped over her shoulders.

"I put the blankey on her." Jack beamed.

Jay smiled weakly at him, "How long has she been asleep?" he asked.

"Since um…I don't know time." Jack said with a shrug.

Jay let out a laugh; it was stupid of him to have asked a toddler about time.

Emma had her head tilted to the side with a book open in her hand.

He walked over to her and pulled the blanket over her more so she wasn't freezing.

He watched for a second as Jack giggled to the cartoon he was watching before he grabbed the Math textbook off of the table and turned to a page, reading the problems and seeing if he could figure them out for himself.

Each time he saw an E in the book though, for some reason he always would stare at Emma.

_E_…Jay stopped and glanced at Emma before shaking his head and glancing back at the problem, _EFxY+3-7xA…what the hell is that supposed to mean!_

Jay sighed, if he couldn't understand a thing written in the book, how was he ever going to graduate?

x-

**Okay, I know it was kind of crappy…sorry! **

**R&R and I'll be sure to have the next chapter up WAY sooner than it took to get this one up…I PROMISE!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	3. Confrontation Corruption

**Hey everyone thanks for the reviews!**

**Here is Chapter 3 and I hope you like it!**

**-x-**

**Chapter 3**

**-x-**

Emma stirred in her sleep before her blue/green eyes opened and she glanced around her living room and then glanced at the clock on the wall that read 8:07.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed and shot up from her bed and ran to Jack's room only to see him sound asleep in his bed.

"Jay probably already left." Emma muttered, "He doesn't probably care about being tutored, I bet he was happy that I didn't answer the door."

"Actually, that's where you'd be wrong." A voice said from behind her.

Emma jumped and turned around only to see Jay sitting in the computer room with an open English textbook beside him.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked.

"Studying…what does it look like I'm doing?" he asked, glancing up at her.

Emma shrugged, "I just figured you would have left, that's all."

"You are so stereotypical." Jay said with a slight laugh.

"You know what stereotypical means?" Emma asked.

Jay stared at her blankly, "Just because I'm not very smart doesn't mean I'm dumb, Green Peace. Do you think so little of me?" he asked.

"You really want me to answer that?" she asked with a small laugh.

"You didn't think very little of me last year, you know." Jay said.

"Jay…" Emma said, "Do we have to bring that up? Last year was a mistake and we both know it."

"It was a mistake?" Jay asked, "You didn't seem to think so back then."

"Yeah, back then before I knew you gave me an STD!" Emma exclaimed.

Jay got up from his computer chair and walked over to Emma, "I'm sorry about last year…I really am, I didn't know I was giving you gonorrhea. I didn't even know that _I _had it."

Emma rolled her eyes, "I'm still in shock that Alex and Amy actually forgave you after that."

"I apologized to them." Jay said.

"You cheated on Alex though; you gave her an STD and cheated on her. You're just unbelievable."

"I don't go to the ravine anymore Emma. I stopped doing that." Jay said.

"Thank God!" Emma said, "You should have never gone there in the first place!"

"You can't make me the only bad guy in this scenario, after we did it the first time, you just kept on leading me on, wanting it again."

"Just shut up Jay."

"Why are we even talking about this?" Jay asked, "You're just my tutor now. So let's just put the past behind us and get some studying done."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Fine by me." She said and brushed past him, stalking into the living room.

Jay groaned and grabbed the English textbook and followed her.

x-

"I don't know Em!" Jay exclaimed.

Emma stared down at the History book, "It is that hard to figure out, Jay."

"Well it is for me. I'm not that smart to begin with!" Jay's voice boomed.

Emma glanced at the clock, 10:05, she still had almost two hours with this and they weren't getting anywhere.

"How about we just take a break?" Jay asked.

"Why?" Emma asked.

"Because I'm hungry…and this whole thing is useless." Jay stated and got up from the couch, walking into the kitchen.

Emma rolled her eyes and followed him, "Education is not useless, Jay."

"For me it is." Jay said boredly as he opened the fridge and pulled out a can of soda then pulled out another one and offered it to Emma.

"Thanks." She said with a weak smile and took it out of his hand.

"Thanks to you too." He said.

"For what?" she asked, popping the top and taking a swig.

"For helping me, with all this tutoring and stuff." Jay said.

Emma smiled weakly, "No problem."

"I didn't want to do it to begin with but you're a better tutor than Toby or Liberty would be, plus you're easier on the eyes." Jay said with a smirk.

Emma could feel her cheeks turning pink, she had to look away.

"Thanks…I think." She said, staring at the ground.

"Yeah," Jay said, "In some weird way…it was kind of a compliment."

Emma giggled, "Yeah, I guess so."

Just then the ever-so-popular 'awkward silence' kicked in.

After five minutes of silence, Jay spoke up, "So how many more subjects do we have?" he asked.

Emma's head jerked up at the sound of his voice, "Um…Media Immersion and…that's it I think. You said you already did English and math, correct?"

Jay nodded, "And we've made attempts at science and history." He added in.

Emma giggled, "Yep. So I guess just media immersion, which we have to do over the computer, so c'mon." she said.

"I'm still hungry. I never got food, just a drink." He said and opened a cabinet, pulling out a can of Pringles.

"You sure know you're way around my kitchen." Emma said with a slight laugh.

"I figured your family would be the type to keep their junk food by the cookie jar." He said, gesturing to the jar filled with cookies.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point right there." She said and led him to the computer.

Jay turned for the computer room but Emma headed for another door.

"Where you going, Em?" Jay asked.

"Oh…I like the computer in my room better. I just got it. My parents finally regained my trust to let me have a computer in my room." Emma said and opened the door to the basement and jogged down the steps lightly, Jay at her heels.

"They didn't trust you with a computer?" Jay asked confusingly.

"Long story." She said and headed towards the computer, Jay glanced around her bedroom.

Three out of the four walls were painted olive green and the other one was made of brick, each wall was supported with posters of Maroon5, The Killers, Johnny Depp, Adam Brody, and Simple Plan.

Her bedspread looked like it was made out of a silky material and it's color was sheer plum, with two shiny see though silver sheets hanging on either sides of the bed like a canopy.

She had a cabinet in one corner that held a television accompanied by a DVD player and a large stereo.

She had shelves on her walls as well, one with DVD's on it, another with CD's and one that featured two frames. One had a picture of Emma and Manny from the school play last year, the two girls were decked out in their costumes giggling and leaning against a wall in the school, the picture was black and white and by the way it was taken, Jay had a good feeling that Craig Manning had taken that picture, as well as the second one which was of Emma, Manny, JT, Liberty, and Toby outside sitting on the Degrassi school steps, with their arms around one another. Liberty had her head resting on JT's shoulder, Toby was smirking, and Emma and Manny were winking at the camera.

Jay smiled at the pictures, even though the picture of Emma and Manny at the play brought back memories of last year when Emma got mad at Jay at the play, and of the nights spent at the ravine when they had had oral sex.

"Jay?" Emma's voice broke him out of his trance.

Jay turned around and saw Emma sitting at her flat screen computer.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Are you just gonna stand there? Pull up a chair." She said and nodded towards a chair at her desk that also had a frame with a picture of Manny and Spinner from last year.

Jay nodded and walked over and grabbed the chair, bringing it over so his chair was planted right next to Emma's. He was so close that he could smell her sweet smelling perfume that smelled of raspberries and her shampoo that smelled like vanilla.

He watched as her metallic purple finger nails tapped on each key of the keyboard lightly and noticed a charm bracelet on her hand.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

Emma looked down at her bracelet, "That?"

Jay nodded.

"Manny gave it to me for my birthday last year, why?" Emma asked confusingly.

"Just wondering." He said.

Emma nodded and went to a program on her computer that looked like something out of Media Immersion.

"You have that program?" he asked.

Emma nodded, "Dad loaded it onto my computer."

"Is Mr. Simpson your real dad?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "No. That's why my name is Emma Simpson-Nelson."

Jay nodded, "So was Nelson your dad's last name?"

Emma shook her head again, "My mom's maiden name."

"Oh." Jay said and pretended to look interested at all of the things Emma was describing, but the only thing at the moment that he was interested in looking at, was Emma herself.

x-

"Well, we got a lot covered so until tomorrow I guess." Emma said with a satisfied grin.

Jay rubbed his eyes that were drooping lazily.

"I take it your tired." She said with a laugh.

"Nah…I could totally last another three hours." Jay said before his eyes began to blink shut.

"Yeah, I bet." Emma chuckled, "You gonna make it home alright?" she asked.

Jay nodded, "I'm not drunk or anything-" _yawn,_ "-just tired."

"You can probably just crash here tonight or something," Emma said, "My parents wouldn't mind…they should probably already be home actually…I don't know why they're not."

Just then the phone rang.

Emma got up and walked over to her nightstand and grabbed her silver telephone and pressed the TALK button, "Hello?"

"Emma." Spike said worriedly.

"Where are you?" Emma asked.

"I need you and Jack to come to the emergency room immediately." She said in a rushed and panicked voice.

Emma's heart sped up and she felt as if there was a bowling ball in her throat, "Why?"

"It's Snake." Spike said, "He's not doing good…at all."

**-x-**

**Cliff or if?**

**R&R and please, no flames.**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	4. The Hospital All Nighter

**Hey all, thanks for the reviews (hugs to everyone) and sorry for the semi-long update, anyways, here's Chapter 4...hope you like!**

**-x-**

**Chapter 4**

**-x-**

Jay pulled his Civic into the hospital parking lot quickly and Emma climbed out with Jack on her hip.

"Jay, thank you so much!" she said.

"It wasn't any problem. Just call my cell if you need a ride home or anything." He said and grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down a number with a Sharpie before handing it to her.

"Thanks again, for the ride and everything."

"No problem." He said before beginning to drive out of the parking lot.

Emma stood there for a moment, anticipating on what to do.

She knew her mom would be there but she would probably be talking to doctors and staying in Snake's room the whole time, she didn't want to be in there alone.

"Jay!" she called after the red Civic.

The car stopped and began to go in reverse until it parked up right next to Emma.

"What is it, Nelson?" he asked.

Emma sucked in a deep breath, "Could you stay with me?"

x-

"Emma!" Spike squealed, running towards Emma and putting her arms around her daughter.

Jay stood beside the two and held Jack who was humming the tune to "I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Weiner" in his ear.

"Hey mom." She said, hugging her back.

"Hi Jack." Spike said with a wide smile and took hold of her little boy, planting a kiss on his forehead "Emma, I have to go talk with the doctors for a little while, would you mind watching Jack?"

Emma nodded, "Sure." She said and took back her little brother.

"Thanks a bunch, Em." She said with a smile, she waved at Jay and gave a small peck to Jack and ran off.

"I want Jay!" Jack said excitedly.

Emma nodded, "You want Jay to hold you?"

Jay's eyes widened, babies usually hated him; how could _he _possibly like him?

Jack nodded, "Yeah." He said shortly.

Emma smirked and held out Jack to Jay.

Jay took Jack in his arms confusingly, "Want a piggyback?" he finally asked.

"Yeah!" he practically shouted.

Jay tossed him up over his shoulders and held onto his ankles as they walked down the corridors of the hospital.

"You're really good with kids, you know that?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"No not really." Jay said.

Emma smirked, "Jack seems to adore you."

"Yeah I know." Jay said.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Emma said.

"No," Jay said, "It's not a bad thing. It's a weird thing. Babies and kids usually hate me, but Jack likes me."

Just then Jack's hands flew over Jay's eyes, "Peek-a-boo!" he yelled out.

Emma broke into giggles as she watched Jack and Jay.

Just then Jay stared into space for a minute, before he began to grin.

x-

"Here comes the jet, woo, woo, mayday, mayday." Jay said before sending the spoon into Jack's mouth as he gave him some ice cream.

"Uh, Jay…" Emma said.

"What?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Jack can feed himself, and you usually only do the jet plane to a little kid when he doesn't like the food. Jack loves ice cream."

Jay scoffed, "But this is fun." He said in a near whiny tone.

"You are such a little kid at heart." Emma laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Jay said with a smirk before his eyes widened, "Tell anybody at school and I will have Alex or any other girl hurt you."

Emma laughed on the outside but on the inside she was rather upset that he mentioned Alex beating her up to her.

It wasn't so much the beating up part, but more the Alex part.

Jay could sense that she was uncomfortable, "Sorry." He said quickly.

"It's fine." Emma said, "I just really wish I knew what was wrong with dad. I mean, my mom didn't really say much of anything."

Jay sighed, "Gotta love parents."

Emma laughed lightly, "Yeah…that's for sure."

"So…care if I ask you a question?" Jay asked.

Emma leaned back in her chair, "Shoot."

"Why do you want to tutor me?" he asked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"You just do it for fun?" he asked sarcastically.

Emma glanced up at him, knowing an answer that small wouldn't satisfy Jay.

"You really want to know?" she asked.

"Unless you feel uncomfortable telling me." Jay said.

"Okay, Dr. Phil…here's the scoop." Emma said, "I need cash."

Jay held out his hands and began to motion them in circles as if to say _'go on'._

"That's it." Emma said.

"That's it?" Jay echoed, "You need cash? So you chose to tutor me? Wow…I feel special."

"Shut up." She said, hurling an ice cube at him, it hit him in the shoulder before bouncing off and sliding to the floor, she could see it melting bit by bit very slowly.

"I just want to graduate early, that's all." Emma said, "The sooner I get out of Toronto, the better."

"Isn't this your home town or something?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded, "Yeah…but, I don't know. I just don't want to be here anymore. The whole staff is telling me that I've got enough credits and good enough grades to graduate early, I just need the green. So I spend my free-time now babysitting or as of a few days ago, tutoring you."

"Where are you planning on going?" Jay asked.

"University of Montreal, you?"

"Just somewhere here in Toronto, I'm just gonna stay here. It's where Alex is going so..."

"Not what I heard." Emma said.

"You wouldn't know before I would, Green Peace. She's my girlfriend."

"Well you're girlfriend obviously doesn't tell you everything because I heard she's moving to Vancouver."

"Vancouver? What the hell is in Vancouver?" Jay asked.

"I don't know. But I overheard her and Ellie talking about it a few days ago, she was supposed to tell you tonight at some party but look, here you are."

Jay tilted his head back and let out a long sigh, "That's why she wanted me to go to that party tonight. Damn it."

"Maybe you can move with her…" Emma said, trying to be supportive.

"Nah, I've already got a job all summer and besides, I know why she's going to Vancouver." Jay said, sitting back up.

"Aren't you the guy who just said 'what the hell is in Vancouver?'?"

"Not a good time to be quoting me, Nelson." Jay said shortly, "Her sister lives there, she's probably gonna move in with her."

Emma nodded her head, "Oh…well, wish I could be of more assistance, but I can't."

"It's fine." Jay said before letting out a yawn.

Emma leaned her arms across her chest, "Look, you can go home if you want…I'll be here all night anyway."

"No, it's okay. Hospitals can be pretty scary at night; it's when all the people die."

"How reassuring on my behalf." Emma said with a sarcastic laugh, "But no, seriously, you can. It doesn't bother me any, I'll just catch a ride with my mom in the morning."

"I could just drop you off at your house if you want or something, you know." Jay said.

Emma shook her head, "Its fine. Just go ahead."

Jay glanced at her suspiciously, "You sure?"

Emma let out a small yawn and then nodded her head, "It's fine, really."

Jay nodded, "Uh…okay, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

Emma nodded again.

Jay got up from his seat and turned to Jack who was drowsing in and out of sleep, "Bye Jack." He said, giving him a small tickle.

Jack shrieked, "Bye Jay!"

Jay ran his hands through what little hair Jack had before walking off.

"See you, Jay." Emma said as he walked away.

Jay spun around and faced the back of Emma's head, "Later, Nelson." He said with a soft smile before walking away and out of the hospital doors.

x-

"Emma!" Spike called out, running over to her daughter, who was sitting in the waiting room, reading a magazine with her little brother's head resting on her knee as he slept soundly.

"Hey mom." Emma said, her voice cracking from lack of sleep, the clock that hung over head, read 3 o'clock and the fluorescent lights were giving her a headache.

"They want Snake to stay here for the rest of the week." Spike said.

_Well, go figure._

"Oh…okay, what happened though?"

"We were at the restaurant and all of a sudden his hand started twitching and he just blacked out, the doctors think it's something serious so they want him to stay here for the rest of the week."

_Anything to get business._

"Oh…that sucks." Emma said dully.

"Hunny, why don't you go home and get some sleep? You look very tired."

"Don't have a ride." Emma said.

"I can give you a lift home, but you might not see me until late tonight." Spike said.

Emma nodded and let out a yawn, "Okay."

"Do you want to miss school tomorrow; I don't think you're going to be up to it, have you slept at all tonight?"

Emma shook her head, "I can't. It'll screw up my perfect attendance."

Spike sighed, "Em, I don't think one measly day will matter all too much."

Emma sighed, "Okay." She said and got up, handing Jack to her mom, who cradled him in her arms protectively as she led them outside to the parking garage.

"I'm pretty much only agreeing with you though because I'm so tired." Emma noted.

Spike let out a soft laugh, "I know."

x-

_Where is she?_ Jay wondered around eleven o'clock the next morning; he had seen many of Emma's friends, but no Emma.

_Maybe she went home last night and is sleeping, or she's ditching…wow, that'd be cool and weird at the same time, I should probably go check up on her._

Jay glanced around for teachers before slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and wondering out of the school.

"So anyway...Jay?" Alex asked, wondering why her boyfriend had just walked out of the school halfway during a conversation, she shook her head before grumbling under her breath and walking off in the other direction.

x-

Jay got out of his Civic and stepped up her walk, knocking lightly on the door.

When a minute passed with no response, he simply let himself in the house, a task he had done once before.

"Nelson?" he asked, walking into the house, glancing around, "Emma? It's Jay."

He stepped into the living room but saw nothing, so he decided to walk into the kitchen but only found emptiness and a note from Spike:

_Em-_

_Took Jack to day care…pick him up around five or so, okay? I know you're sleeping right now and won't get this until later but I figured I would remind you._

_See you late tonight or early tomorrow._

_Love you, Mom._

Jay sat it down, that gave him the answer: Emma was sleeping.

He walked over to the olive colored door that led to the basement, AKA: Emma's bedroom.

"Green Peace?" Jay asked, walking down the stairs.

He reached the main level and walked around, until finally seeing Emma with all of her blankets thrown across her, sound asleep.

He could feel a small smile brimming on his lips and a blush rising to his cheeks but he didn't know why.

This was Jay Hogart we were talking about here, he doesn't get mushy, this couldn't be happening…not to him, and not over Emma.

But Jay finally realized that it _was_ happening to him over Emma when he found himself kicking off his shoes and climbing into bed beside her, falling into a slumber.

**-x-**

**Hope you liked, R&R and please, no flames.**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	5. Officially Ditched

**So sorry about the long update! So, so, so, so, SO SORRY!**

**-x-**

**Chapter 5**

x-

Emma's eyes fluttered open and she just sat lay there for a moment, not sure where exactly she was looking, then suddenly, two eyes popped open.

Emma screamed and jumped up which simply caused the owner of the eyes to do the same thing, she then recognized the person in question.

"_Jay?_" she exclaimed.

Jay rubbed his head as he noticed his black cap strewn on the floor.

"Yep…the one and only." He said before collapsing back onto the bed.

"Oh my god." Emma said, checking her body over, "We didn't…like…did we?"

"Uh…" Jay thought for a moment before realizing what she was talking about, "NO! I just came in here to check on you and then well…you were sleeping so I got into bed with you and fell asleep, is that a crime?"

Emma rolled her eyes and muttered a 'whatever'.

"Nice choice of pajamas, Green Peace." Jay said.

Emma glanced down at her pajamas; she was wearing a white wife beater that rode to her belly button along with a pair of silky mint green pajama pants that had monkeys on them.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Thanks…you wouldn't have to have seen me in them however if you would have just stayed in school instead of coming here and crashing in my bed with me."

"Hey now, I ditched school for _you_ so you should be happy." Jay said with a smirk that only yelled 'sarcasm' and nothing but.

"I have to tutor you anyway, so let's just get started, okay?"

Jay nodded, "Sure."

Emma gave a small smile and ran up the stairs.

Jay tilted his head back and sighed before jogging after her.

x-

After an hour of useless tutoring, Emma dropped the pencil on the table and leaned back against the couch, letting out a long sigh of frustration, "How can you not get this? It's easy!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, for someone like you, Miss Straight A's." Jay said sarcastically.

"Well maybe if you paid attention in school and actually_ went_ more than every other day, you might understand the curriculum as well, but no, you spend your time with Alex and Amy and Towerz and usually ditch school so it's not my fault that you're in need of a tutor." Emma said.

"I do pay attention in school FYI; there are just more important things in the world than school, okay?"

"Yeah, I know there are more important things than school but drugs, and alcohol, and hooking up aren't them." Emma said offensively.

"You sure as hell didn't mind to seem hooking up much last year." Jay said stubbornly.

Emma stared at him, her blue/green eyes cold, "Don't bring up that shit from last year Jay. You gave me gonorrhea."

"How many damn times do I have to say I'm sorry to you Nelson? Huh? How fucking many?" Jay asked, shooting up from the couch.

Emma got up as well and marched right over to him until they were almost standing nose to nose, "You can't apologize for what you did to me Jay, it was my own damn choice but you should have been a lot more responsible but I take half the credit for actually doing it in the first place, I never should have."

"Then why did you?" Jay asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Excuse me?" Emma asked, pretending not to have heard the question, for she did not want to give the answer.

"Why did you hook up with me in the van then if you didn't want to?"

Emma gulped, "Because I was stupid last year, I guess." She lied...true, it had been stupid of her, but that wasn't the main reason.

"Sure…okay. I can read you like a book Nelson, so why not just tell me the real truth?"

Emma let out a sigh, "Because when I was with you, I felt a lot better than I had since the shooting. You made me feel free, and like I could have fun, I guess that I had feelings brewing for you and that's pretty much it."

Jay's heart began to hammer, "You had feelings for me?"

Emma nodded bashfully, "Yeah, I guess I did."

For some reason, as soon as those words dropped from her lips, it seemed as if the gap between her face and Jay's was growing smaller and smaller.

Emma could feel her cheeks burning and her heart pounding against her chest before she finally broke away and came to her senses, "But that was then, and this is now. So let's just get back to tutoring, okay?" she asked and then spun around quickly, hoping to decrease the pounding of her heart.

Jay sighed, "Okay." He said and moved back over to the couch.

"Do you want anything to drink or anything?" Emma questioned.

"Nah, I'm okay." Jay said.

"Well, I'm thirsty." Emma responded and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and then twisting it open.

Just then she heard a door shut.

Emma glanced over and noticed that Jay was no longer on the couch, as soon as she heard his Civic driving off; she knew she had officially been ditched.

x-

Jay drove down the road, his radio blasting.

He wasn't sure why he had exactly ditched Emma Nelson, perhaps because she wouldn't kiss him.

But why would he get mad about that? He had Alex, and Emma was well…Emma. Not a likely candidate for who he would date.

_Why would I even think for a second about dating her?_ Jay asked himself.

He didn't need to though, he knew the answer already; he was falling for her just like he had last year.

x-

Jay pulled into the driveway of Alex's small and rustic house only to see her run out of it and stomp over to him.

"Where the hell were you today!" she exclaimed.

"Whoa, sorry. I just didn't feel like going to school." Jay said.

"You just ditched me!" Alex exclaimed, "If you're cheating on me you better say it now instead of later, because then, maybe I'll go a bit easier on you when I kick your ass!"

Jay backed off a bit as he got out of the car, "I'm not cheating on you. And you keep secrets from me too, like Vancouver!" Jay yelled right back.

Alex's eyes widened before the fury entered them again, "That was what I was trying to tell you at school before you just walked out of there!"

"Well, I'm sorry. But I'm listening now, so why are you leaving me and going to Vancouver?"

Alex sighed and placed her hands on her hips, "My sister, she's having trouble…financially. Since I was always the independent and 'most likely to be successful in life' one in our family, she thinks I can help her get out of debt and some other stuff like that."

"Oh, sorry." Jay said.

Alex glanced at him with confusion, "What is up with you anymore? You're timid now, it's driving me crazy!"

Jay let out a chuckle, "I'm…sorry?"

Alex rolled her eyes.

"Well what do you want me to do to make you feel better than you have felt all day?"

Alex glanced up at him suggestively and nodded her head back towards her house, "Mom's out…dad's at work."

Jay nodded and pulled her into a soft kiss before guiding her back into the house, trying to make himself believe that this was what he really wanted.

x-

Emma flipped through the channels on her television repeatedly three times boredly.  
_I can't believe he ditched me, that jerk. I should have known that would happen. _

Just then, her phone rang.

Emma picked it up and glanced at the Caller ID which read, _M SANTOS._

Emma pressed TALK.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Manny said from the other line, "Where were you today?"

"I was up late last night, so I pretty much just slept all day." Emma said.

"Oh…" Manny said, "Well I was thinking of going to the mall, do you want to come with? I totally need a new outfit."

"For what?" Emma asked.

"Doesn't matter," Manny said, "so do you want to come?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Sure."

She could just tell that Manny was grinning, "Okay, great. Be there in a bit." She said and clicked off the phone.

x-

"See, Em? This is exactly what we needed." Manny said with a grin as she and Emma strolled through the mall corridors with many shopping bags in their hands.

"Yeah…sure." Emma said mindlessly, glancing around the mall at everybody around them.

"Great, there's the Beer Brigade." Manny muttered under her breath.

Emma's blonde head looked up only to see Towerz, Amy, and Jay with his arm snaked around Alex's waist, and they were walking towards them.

Jay continued to fixate his eyes on anything besides Emma but he was feeling that it was near impossible, because she was practically staring him down to a pulp.

"Hey, Nature Girl, why don't you go and focus your eyes on somebody besides my boyfriend?" Alex asked, shooting her an evil look with her oceanic eyes as the groups brushed past each other.

"Yeah, I'm not interested." Jay said coldly.

Manny rolled her eyes, "Oh lay off it losers! We'll see you at the party."

Amy's eyes widened, "You're coming to the party? Who the hell would let two preps like you in?"

"Spinner thanks." Manny snapped.

"Well, I'll have to be sure to tell them thanks for opening the party to the public."

"I'm only going because Spinner wants to rekindle our romance so I said I'd meet him at this party and I'm sure Emma would hate to miss out on it."

"No not really." Emma whispered into her ear.

Manny shushed her and turned back to the others, "So we'll see you tonight at Sean's place."

Alex rolled her eyes, "Yeah, whatever." She said boredly.

Manny grinned in return, "Great! Bye now, c'mon Em." She said and led her best friend out of the mall.

Manny began to walk towards her car before Emma grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, "Manny, what the hell was that!"

"We're going to a party, what else would it be?"

"I don't want to go to that party." Emma said.

"Em, I'm not going to a party like that alone! You're my best friend, and I just figured you'd want to come too."

Emma shook her head, "Yeah, well I don't."

Manny glanced up at her with her pleading dark eyes, "Em, _please…_I don't want to go alone."

Emma tried to dart her green eyes away as Manny began the puppy dog pout.

"_Please_ Em…please, please, please?" she practically began to jump up and down.

Emma sighed and glanced down at the ground, contemplating.

_Well I don't really want to go and have to face Jay and Alex making out the whole time…but if I wore a really hot outfit, I could make him jealous. Wait…why would I want him to make him jealous? _

_**Cuz you like him stupid.** _The other side of her conscience said.

_Doubtable…_

_**You know you do…and you bought some really hot outfits tonight.**_

_Not hot enough…_

_**Ooh, so you do admit it? You do want Jay to think you look hot.**_

_Well obviously!_

_**Then wear one of those outfits and make him wish that he would never have left this afternoon…**_

_He likes Alex…not me._

_**I'm pretty damn sure he likes you.**_

_Well nothing I could wear is good enough._

_**Something is…just do it Em!**_

_Don't make me sound like a Nike commercial!_

_**We're the same person, just opposite sides of the brain; don't make us seem like two different people.**_

_Don't make us sound like two different people then!_

_**Wear the outfit.**_

_What if it doesn't do any good?_

_**You'll never know unless you try…**_

_Damn it! _

"Okay, fine…I'll do it." Emma said with a sigh.

Manny squealed and threw her arms around her best friend's shoulders, "You're the best Em!"

_I better look the best too…_

x-

**Okay, there was Chapter 5 and I hope you liked it!**

**Once again, so sorry about the long updates! I was finishing up the school year and all but now I am yours for the summer… (Cheesy grin) lol, so I will be updating a lot more frequently since I'll be able to get more writing done!**

**Okay so please review! And please no flames!**

**Lotsa love!**

**-Degrassichick**

**P.S. Hope all the conscience talk didn't confuse you. The bold print was signifying one side of the conscience and the regular was obviously the other side!**


	6. Party Problem

**AN: I am really, really sorry about how long it has taken for me to update on this story! I have been really busy with finishing up the school year and I'm finally getting some time to write, plus earlier all my files were screwed up because my other computer account was blocked from the internet but anyways I am very, very sorry about how long it had taken me to update the chapters for this story. I promise that chapters will definitely be updated more frequently now that school is out for summer (Thank God!).**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone and here's the next chapter, hope you like!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 6**

**-x-**

"Em, you look fine, trust me!" Manny said as the two walked around Emma's bedroom, well actually Manny was flopped out on the bed while Emma was pacing so much that she was pretty much walking for the both of them.

"I think it's over the top." Emma said, glancing at her outfit in her full length mirror that stood in a corner of her room.

She was wearing a olive green halter that rose to her belly button along with a denim sandblasted skirt that had a splash of sparkles across it and hung to her mid thigh along with a sheer plum sash that was looped through the belt loops and tied into a knot and hung against her left thigh along with a pair of tan platform thong sandals.

Her blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun and she was wearing a pear of hoop earrings.

"It's not, you look fine. And so do I, so can we just go _already_!" Manny asked, getting up from the bed and walking towards Emma, glancing at herself in the mirror.

She was wearing a hot pink beater with a smaller orange one over it along with a white mini skirt with hot pink and neon orange polka dots on it and a pair of hot pink platform thong sandals and her dark hair was straightened and pulled into a ponytail along with a pair of plastic neon orange hoop earrings.

Emma sighed, "Fine…let's go." She said and began to head towards the door of the stairs.

"We're going out the front door?"

Emma nodded, "I have to leave my mom a note, saying I'm out."

"Isn't she going to find it weird that you're out on a school night?" Manny asked curiously.

Emma nodded, "Okay, I guess you're right. Let's just go through the window." Emma said and headed towards the small window of her room; she opened it up and got out, before helping Manny outside along with her and the two began to walk off towards Sean's old apartment where the party was held.

x-

"It's really loud!" Emma exclaimed as the two walked into the party, bombarded by the loud thump of the stereo and the smoke haze that was wafting around the room.

"Did you expect it to be quiet?" Manny shouted back.

Emma rolled her eyes in return and began to wave her hand around to prevent smoke from getting in her eyes.

"Oh my God, you are such a drama queen!" Manny exclaimed as she watched Emma.

"Well do you see Spinner anywhere?" Emma asked, craning her neck around the room.

Manny shook her head, "But he'll be here. He promised me."

"He also promised he would never break your heart, see how that worked out?" Emma asked, "You guys were broken up from like last April to now!"

"Emma, it's just about trust." Manny said, "I know he loves me, okay?"

"Just like you knew Craig did?" Emma questioned.

"Spinner's not Craig," Manny said calmly, "Spinner's different."

"Damn girl…" a guy said, walking closely by Emma so that he brushed against her, "You look hot." He said before taking a swig out of the bottle of beer in his hand.

Emma shuddered at him and walked off before realizing that she had lost Manny.

x-

"Just great Manny, thanks for telling me where you were going…actually thanks for telling me you were even leaving!" Emma said to herself as she wove through the crowd of people at the party.

So far she had seen absolutely nobody that she recognized at this party…what if she and Manny went to the wrong one?

Alex had said "whatever" when Manny said that they'd see her at Sean's place, maybe Manny heard wrong and this was a different party…either way, Emma was insanely freaked out right now.

She saw many people in their mid twenties dancing together, boys and girls making out in corners and couples grinding on the dance floor. Some were seated on a couch, sniffing Coke and she saw a whole bunch of people in the kitchen drinking beer.

She could smell smoke and she could feel herself beginning to get nauseated.

_Where is Manny? _She asked herself.

She had walked through the entire house now and still had seen nobody with a familiar face.

Just then, without realizing that she wasn't watching where she was going, she crashed into something.

She glanced up and saw a pair of dark eyes above her.

She backed away only to have arms wrapped around her.

"Um, excuse me…" she said nervously.

"Come with me…" the guy said and roughly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her off.

x-

"So, you think we can give it another shot?" Spinner asked Manny with a smile as the couple stood outside of Sean's old house.

Manny looked down at the ground before looking up, "Yeah, I think we can do it." she said.

Spinner grinned and pulled her into a deep kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

"How romantic…" a voice drawled from behind them.

Manny broke the kiss and looked behind her only to see Jay Hogart with a smirk planted on his face, "What do you want?"

"Did you come to this party with each other?" Jay asked.

Manny shook her head, "No, I went with Emma…not that it's any of _your _business."

Jay's heart flew to his throat and he couldn't swallow, "Well where is she?"

"Inside, why does it matter?" Manny asked.

"Is she dressed kind of more revealing?"

Manny nodded.

"And you left her in there with a whole bunch of high school and college drop outs that are now alcoholics?"

"Emma's smart." Manny said, "Nothing will happen to her."

Jay rolled his eyes and wove through the swarm of people crowded outside the house before hurrying up the porch steps and heading into the house.

Loud rap music was blasting through the stereo and many people were dancing together or drinking alcohol or making out.

"Jay, there you are." Alex said, walking up to him.

"Yeah…here I am." Jay said.

"Where have you been?"

"Outside…now I have to go find someone."

"If you're looking for Green Peace, which I seriously hope you aren't, she's in some room with some guy." Alex said.

Jay glanced at her obliviously, "What guy?"

Alex shrugged, "How should I know! And besides, why would you care?"

Jay rolled his eyes and walked off, nudging her in the shoulder as he brushed past her.

"What the hell is with him anymore!" she exclaimed to herself before stomping off in the other direction.

x-

Jay glanced in the few rooms at the house and didn't see anybody that resembled Emma.

Just then he saw a blonde body practically get thrown out of a room, she was wearing an olive green halter and a denim mini skirt.

She stood up but he couldn't see her face since she was turned around.

"Jerk!" she yelled into the room.

He knew by that voice that he had found Emma.  
She turned around and saw Jay and shot him a venomous look before walking off, nudging him in the shoulder. Hard.

"What did I ever do to you?" he questioned, following after her.

He saw Emma shaking her head and holding up her hands in a 'I'm not answering that' manner before exiting out of the front door.

Jay followed her, ignoring Alex and Amy who were sending him curious glares to why he would possibly follow around Green Peace with so much concern pasted all over his face.

"Do you even have a car to get back to your house?" Jay asked, following her down the front walk.

Emma turned back around to stare at him, he noticed that she had mascara streaks running down her cheeks and her eyes were glossy and red, her lips looked swollen.

"What happened to you?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "None of your business." She said and stomped off down the sidewalk.

Jay groaned silently and followed behind her before falling into step right beside her, "What happened to you?" he asked again.

"None of your business, what part of that _didn't_ you get?" she asked, obviously annoyed-and depressed.

"Well as I look at you it looks as if you were kissed by a vacuum cleaner." He said, nodding towards her lips that were fuller than usual.

Emma rolled her eyes at him, "It's none of your business what happened to me."

"So something did happen to you…" Jay said, as if he was slowly beginning to peace together the eighth wonder of the world.

Emma gave him a blank look, "Just go away, Jay." She said and stalked off, her platform sandals slapping against the sidewalk with a thud each time they hit the cement.

"I just don't see why you won't tell me." Jay said, still following her.

"_Oh my God!_" Emma groaned frustratingly, "Do you ever quit Hogart? You are so annoying! I already told you that I'm not telling you what happened, how many damn times do you need to hear that until it finally sinks into your hollow head!"

"Maybe because I'm worried about you…" Jay said.

"Well don't be." Emma said, "I took care of myself back there and I'll take care of myself in the future, okay? You don't need to come to my rescue; I don't even know why you ever would anyway."

"Well if you took care of yourself so well then how come you were crying?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "I was scared, I guess. I mean if you were hauled into a dark room by some drunk in a coat that practically resembled a _trench coat_, wouldn't you be scared?"

_No, _Jay said to himself, _my dad's an alcoholic. I've gotten hit before, trust me._

Jay shrugged, "I don't know. But what happened in that room?"

Emma groaned, "He tried to get something out of me, he tried to apply force by pinning me to the bed. But I got away and smacked him and left the room, happy now?" Emma asked.

Jay nodded his head slightly, "Yeah, I guess."

Emma sighed, "Thank you." She said out of exhaustion, "I'll see you tomorrow after school for our tutor session, that is, if you're not planning on ditching me again…"

Jay ran a hand through his hair that was down without a hat, which was most definitely a rare occasion for Jay Hogart, "Yeah, uh…sorry about that."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow, Jay."

Jay nodded, "Yeah, later."

She gave him a small smile before walking off down the sidewalk, the fluorescent lights from the street lights hitting her back and shoulders as she walked, brightening them.

Jay began to back off down the street before turning and heading back to Sean's old house in search of a guy wearing something that resembled a trench coat.

x-

**So what'd you think?**

**R&R!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	7. Oh My GOD

**Chapter 7**

**-x-**

Emma was too tired to fiddle with opening her window the hard way so she just went through the front door.

Just then the lights of the living room flipped on and her mom stalked into the foyer, looking less than happy.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Emma." Spike said.

Emma glanced at her curiously, "Why?"

"I'm at work you know, and all of a sudden my cell phone goes off and it's Jack's day care center saying that he had never been picked up! So of course I was like, 'Oh, Emma must be doing something' so I called the house to get your attention and nobody answers, so I try your cell phone, it goes straight to answering machine. You had me worried sick, Emma! How could you be so irresponsible! It's the middle of the night and you're just now coming home!"

Emma's mind flew back to before she and Manny had left for the mall and how she had turned off her cell phone-and obviously had forgotten to turn it back on.

"I'm sorry, mom." Emma said.

"And now it looks as if you went off and had sex or something!" Spike exclaimed.

"I went to a party with Manny, she needed me to come with her, Spinner wanted to make up with her and she was nervous to go alone." Emma said, _and then some drunk guy hit on me and dragged me into a bedroom where he tried to get me to sleep with him and then I got upset and slapped him and ran off only to practically get stalked by Jay Hogart on the way home being bombarded with questions! _

"So you had to dress like that to do so? Look at you, Emma!"

"I know mom, sorry." Emma said.

Spike sighed, "It's alright, at least you're here now."

Emma nodded.

"Now I have to get back to the hospital and check on Archie, will you be okay with Jack for the night?" Spike asked.

Emma nodded, "Yeah sure…"

"Thanks, Em." Spike said with a smile before swinging her purse over her shoulder and walking towards the door, "Jack's asleep right now; he shouldn't cause you any trouble or anything."

Emma nodded, "Okay."

Spike waved at her before heading out the door.

Within a few moments, she heard the car start up and she could see the headlights of her mom's car pulling out of the driveway through the sheer window curtains before driving off down the street.

Emma kicked off her platform sandals and leaned against the wall, sighing.

Just then she saw another pair of headlights pull into the driveway, but they didn't look like her mom's.

_Who's that? _Emma asked herself.

She glanced out the curtains and saw Manny Santos's familiar white Mustang convertible and she saw her jumping out of it and scurrying towards the door.

Emma's lips pursed, she was very angry at Manny for ditching her, but still, she walked towards the door at the sound of Manny tapping on it.

Emma swung it open, "Manny what's going on?"

"Well I figured it's safer here at your house than it is at the party…"

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, letting Manny walk inside.

"There's a huge fight at Sean's house." Manny stated.

"Between who?" Emma questioned, completely forgetting about how mad she was at Manny for ditching her.

"Jay and some guy in a trench coat."

Emma's mouth formed an "O" and her eyes widened.

_Oh my God._

"Maybe we should go over there…" Emma said, sliding her shoes back onto her feet.

"Why? It's just Jay yelling out stuff about treatment to girls, which I'm sure he knows _nothing_ about, and the guy is like 'Shut up! You have no idea what went on you loser!' and then they just keep pushing each other around and slamming into walls.

_Oh my God!_

"Well how come nobody is calling the police?" Emma questioned.

"I'm surprised Alex hasn't, but nobody there really cares. They all just think of it as entertainment or something. I don't know, it's stupid if you ask me."

"Well maybe we should go over and check on them?" Emma suggested.

Manny stared at her as if she was crazy, "I just saw your mom pulling out of the driveway before I got her so I know that she's off to the hospital, where your dad is, and I doubt Jack's with her. That means that you have the responsibility of your baby brother and you can't take him to a party with cigarettes, and drugs, and alcohol!"

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Manny nodded, "Okay."

"So where's Spinner?" Emma asked.

"He left right before I did…but Em, what happened to you?"

Emma gulped, "Nothing, I fell on my way home."

Manny nodded, "Okay sure…but anyways, can I just stay with you tonight? I'm sure my mom won't mind."

Emma shrugged, "Sure."

"Okay, thanks, Em. I'm just going to go call my mom then." Manny said with a grin before walking off towards the kitchen to get the phone.

x-

Jay didn't show up at school the next day, which wasn't really a big surprise to Emma, with the fight he had gotten in and all. He probably had scars.

Alex sent her a death glare anytime during the day that Emma walked by her, which definitely made Emma curious.

Manny and Spinner were walking down the halls together, holding hands and cuddling. Emma would always notice a vicious look on Paige's face anytime she saw the two together.

As soon as the final bell rung, Emma shot up from her seat and bolted out of the classroom, only to get stopped by Ms. Kwan on her trip down the hallway.

"Hi Ms. Kwan." Emma said with a small smile.

"Hello, Emma." Ms. Kwan said, smiling back, "How is the tutoring going?"

"Uh…it's fine. We've met everyday and everything's is going smoothly."

Emma scoffed to herself in her brain.

"That's good to know. You'll be getting paid Friday then." Ms. Kwan said.

Emma nodded, "Okay. Well I'll see you; I have to go get back to tutoring." Emma said with a smile.

Ms. Kwan nodded, "Thanks again, Emma."

"Yeah, no problem." She said before walking off towards her locker and grabbing her messenger bag.

x-

As soon as Manny dropped her off, she noticed a familiar red Civic sitting in her driveway.

"Isn't the Jay's car?" Manny asked suspiciously.

"No, there's some other kid in our neighborhood who comes by here sometimes." Emma lied.

"Oh, okay. Well see you tomorrow Em!" Manny said with a smile as Emma got out of the car.

"Bye." Emma replied.

Manny drove off down the street and Emma watched her car drift out of site before hurrying up her walk and up the porch steps before entering her house.

"Where were you today?" Emma questioned as soon as she entered the house.

She kicked off her white backless sandals before heading into the living room, looking for Jay, but she didn't see him anywhere.

"Jay?" Emma called out, "Don't play dumb, I know you're here. Your car's in my driveway!"

There was still no answer.

Emma walked into the kitchen, the computer room, and Jack's bedroom but didn't see anybody.

That only gave her one other candidate, her bedroom.

She walked back towards the kitchen and opened up the door that led to the basement.

She walked down the stairs, "Jay?"

"In here Nelson." Jay called back.

His voice practically made her heart jump.

_I can't believe he's in my bedroom._

_**I can.**_

_Well you don't matter, shut up._

_**I matter just as much as you matter.**_

_Why would he be in my bedroom?_

_**Because he likes you.**_

_Well that's crap._

_**Not really, he fought that dude for you last night.**_

_Well he also snagged Rick off the ground after I tripped him._

_**Yeah! Because Rick sent you his "I'm going to beat the living shit out of you" glare and Jay came to your defense, you idiot! **_

_That's not why he did that, he just didn't like Rick; hello he tried to KILL HIM!_

_**And how do you know it wasn't all for you?**_

_I just know it wasn't._

_**I bet it was.**_

_Well he didn't shoot him anyway, Rick shot Jimmy, Rick shot Sean, and Sean shot Rick._

_**Well Sean jumped a bullet for you, he obviously likes you.**_

_Since when was this about Sean! Quit playing Cupid!_

_**Would you rather have Jay or Sean?**_

_Go away._

Emma walked down the rest of the stairs and entered her bedroom, "Uh, what are you doing in my room?" Emma questioned.

"Working on MI." Jay said, "You're computer is a lot faster than the one upstairs."

Emma nodded before sitting on her bed, "How long have you been here?"

"About an hour or so. Didn't feel like going to school today." Jay said before turning around in the computer chair and facing her.

Emma noticed that he had a cut above his eyebrow, a somewhat busted lip and a black eye.

"Nice shiners." She said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, I got in a little fight." Jay said sheepishly.

"With a guy in something that looked like a trench coat at Sean's house last night." Emma finished for him.

Jay rolled his eyes, "Manny told you?"

"Manny tells me everything." Emma replied with a smirk, "Why did you fight him last night?"

"Well he tried to rape you." Jay said.

"So?"

"Well I wanted to make sure he didn't try any funny stuff on anyone else at the party."

Emma nodded, "Okay, sure. Well let's just get to tutoring okay?"

Jay nodded slightly, "Okay, but first let me finish this thing, I think I may have finally figured out the program." Jay said before turning back to the computer.

Emma closed her eyes and leaned back on the bed, surprisingly the sounds of the mouse clicking and his fingers tapping on each key of the keyboard practically seemed _relaxing_ to her.

Jay finished up about thirty minutes later and then turned back to Emma, "Alright, let's go work on something else now."

Emma's eyes fluttered open and she got up and followed him up the stairs.

x-

"Do you understand this yet?" Emma asked, running a hand through her blonde hair.

Jay groaned and tilted his head back on the couch, "I have no idea why it's really this hard for me to comprehend." Jay said.

"For some people it takes longer than others, no big deal really."

"Well when did you become Miss Sentimental?" Jay asked with a small smirk tugging at his lips.

Emma rolled her eyes at him before tossing a throw pillow at him, "Let's just get back to work."

Jay sighed, "Yeah, fine." He said before sitting up and staring down at the book.

"What does E equal?" Jay asked as they flipped through the math book.

"MC squared, who doesn't know that?" Emma asked with a laugh, "Some people don't even know what those represent but you still know the answer. E equals MC squared."

Jay rolled his eyes, "Well I didn't know the answer thank you very much."

Emma laughed, "You're so sheltered."

"Ha-ha." Jay replied.

"Why do you always wear these hats?" Emma asked.

Jay wriggled his eye brows, "I happen to like my hats."

"Well you're hair looks fine without it." Emma said before reaching up and trying to grab his hat.

Jay caught her arms, "Nope, no can do. The hat stays." He said before pushing it down farther on his head as if to tighten it.

"So any plans for Christmas?" Emma asked.

Jay gave her a blank look, "Christmas? Where the hell did that question come from?"

"Well it _is_ December, I was just wondering."

"Nothing really, probably go to parties, hang out with my friends."

"Make out with Alex…" Emma added in.

Jay grinned, "Yeah, that too."

Emma rolled her eyes playfully at him.

"Did you know that it was very dumb of you to wear that outfit to the party last night? It was freezing out."

Emma nodded, "Believe me, I know."

Jay turned back to the books in front of him and continued to work on the math problems that lie ahead.

x-

"Sorry, still don't understand it." Jay said an hour later.

"You're not going to pass if you don't understand it." Emma said with a sigh.

"Maybe I need a different tutor."

"Yeah, maybe…" Emma drifted.

"I was kidding." Jay said, "What I need is a different tutor, not brain."

Emma giggled, "You're not that dumb, Jay. You just don't understand things like everybody, maybe there are different ways we could describe this to you…"

"Okay. 'Alex and Jay is in love'. 'Alex and Jay are in love'. Which one sounds better?" Emma asked him.

Jay shook his head.

Emma's eyes widened, "You're kidding me, this is so easy!" Emma exclaimed.

Jay shook his head again, "Here is the proper sentence: Alex and Jay _aren't_ in love."

Emma stared at him, "But you guys are dating…"

Jay shrugged, "So? I don't love her."

"But I thought…" Emma drifted.

"Well you thought wrong." Jay said.

"You guys have been together since I was in freshmen year, probably longer!"

"So?" Jay questioned, "That doesn't mean anything…we fight all the time, she's not the girl for me."

Emma rolled her eyes, "You're a hard to please guy, aren't you?" she asked with a soft laugh.

Jay shook his head, "No…not really."

"Then who do you like? Amy?"

"Oh God, no." Jay said.

"But you let her give you-"

Jay placed his hands over his ears, "That's in the past!"

Emma giggled, "Do you still have those bracelets?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah, their buried somewhere in my closet, don't worry Nelson, I don't use them anymore."

Emma sighed, "Thank God for that."

Jay stared at her quizzically, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Emma shrugged, "It's a good thing you're not going to the ravine anymore, maybe you're turning into less of an asshole…"

Jay rolled his eyes, "Wouldn't say that."

Emma glanced at him in disbelief.

Jay sighed, "Okay…maybe a little bit. But how would you know that anyway?"

"I know how you used to be, Jay. I remember how much I hated the fact that you practically stole Sean away from me, made him change…I remember how I was attracted to you during tenth grade but refused to do anything, and then in the ravine…and now…"

"What about now?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "Nothing…I just think we're becoming friends, that's all."

Jay stared at her blankly, "You think we're becoming friends?"

Emma nodded.

Jay glanced around the room before looking back at her and smirking, "Yeah, I guess maybe we are. But we're only secret friends."

"Of course, wouldn't expect anything less out of the Mighty Jay Hogart."

Jay rolled his eyes at her.

"So, are you going to break up with Alex?"

"Why?"

Emma stared at him dumbly, "Well you did just ramble on about how you two aren't in love, I just figured maybe you're considering breaking up with her."

Jay shook his head, "I haven't been in love with her for a long time, she's more like a friend than a girlfriend, but I love the company…she never really expects me to do anything, she just loves being with me, she's there for me."

_I could be there for you too! _

_**Whoa, where did that come from?**_

**-x-**

**What'd you think?**

**R&R and please, no flames!**


	8. Strictly Business

**Chapter 8**

**-x-**

Emma stared at Jay as he walked down the hallway of Degrassi with his arm draped around Alex.

He glanced up at her for a second and gave her a nod of acknowledgment before disappearing down the hallway with Alex.

"Hey Em," Manny said with a smile, coming up to her best friend.

"Hey…" Emma replied.

"So what are you doing after school today? Want to come over?"

_**You have to tutor Jay.**_

_He can wait until six or so._

_**Ooh, like him spending nights with you?**_

_Oh, shut up already!_

"Um…sure. But only til like six or seven." Emma said quickly.

Manny nodded, "Sure. Meet me at my locker after eighth period." She said with a smile before bounding off down the hallway, no doubt in search of Spinner.

x-

Emma sat in her sixth period study hall with nothing to do, she knew that Jay also had a study hall sixth period, but she wasn't sure where it was.

_Library? No, I don't think it's there…maybe the cafeteria? No, doubt it…_

_**It's in the MI room.**_

_How do you know things that I don't if we're the same brain of the same person?_

Emma got up from her seat and walked towards her study hall advisor, Ms. Kwan.

"Ms. Kwan?" she asked.

Ms. Kwan glanced up, "Yes, Emma?"

"I was wondering if I could pull Jay out study hall and we could get some more tutoring done…I'm busy today after school."

Ms. Kwan nodded and scribbled a pass for Emma and a pass to get Jay out of study hall.

"Thanks." She said before exiting the classroom and heading towards the MI class.

She glanced through the glass windows of the class and saw Jay sitting at one of the computers, scrolling through the pages on some website, Alex was right next to him. When she glanced a bit lower, she saw that his hand was resting on her thigh.

It practically made her heart stop beating.

_Ha-ha Alex, I'm stealing your boyfriend away from you._

_**What's with this newfound attitude?**_

Emma walked up to the door and tapped on it lightly.

Mr. Simpson's substitute, Mr. Davis, answered, "Hello Emma." He said with a smile.

"Hi, Mr. Davis…do you mind if I pull Jay out of class? Ms. Kwan needs him."

Mr. Davis shook his head, "Jay?" he called out.

Jay glanced up and saw Emma waiting at the door for him, her books hugged up against her chest.

Alex shot Emma an angry look as Jay exited out of whatever site he was on and then gathered his things and walked over to Mr. Davis, "Yeah?"

"Emma says that Ms. Kwan needs you at the moment, so go ahead." Mr. Davis said.

Jay nodded and exited the classroom.

"Thanks Mr. Davis." Emma said with a smile before walking off right behind Jay.

"So what does Kwan need me for that you would get sent to the MI lab with all of your books?" Jay asked curiously.

Emma shook her head, "We're getting some more tutoring done for you, I just didn't want to say it out loud in front of Alex and everyone."

"Edgy…" Jay said with a laugh.

Emma nodded, "Well what else would you expect from me?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"So where are we going exactly?" Jay asked.

"Well, since you don't want to be seen anywhere in public with me…we could just go to the benches outside…" Emma suggested.

"We're allowed to go out there during study hall?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "I have a pass." She said and trudged off down the hallway towards the front of the school.

x-

"So, what were you looking at on the computer? You looked pretty intrigued…" Emma said.

Jay nodded, "Yeah, I was looking up…believe it or not…history facts…I have an exam seventh period so I want to make sure I can pass him, raise my F to a D at least." Jay said.

Emma grinned at him, "Good for you Jay."

Jay rolled his eyes, "Yea, Alex looked over and thought I was crazy."

Emma's mind flew back to when she had seen his hand on her thigh but she brushed it off, "What'd you say?"

"I told her that I was bored."

"And…?"

Jay glanced down at the picnic table the two were sitting at, "She still thought I was crazy."

Emma giggled, "Well do you need me to help you with anything?"

Jay shook his head, "We'll have time to study and such after school today."

Emma bit her lip, "About that…I'm hanging out with Manny after school, so we won't be able to get any tutoring done until like six or seven…"

Jay nodded, "That'll be okay, I guess. I'll come over to your house at six thirty or so, how does that sound?"

Emma smiled, "Great, I guess. But you won't be leaving until like eleven thirty or midnight…"

Jay shrugged, "So? I'm usually awake til three on school nights anyway."

"What could you possibly do that actually would keep you up until three in the morning?"

Jay shrugged, "Nothing really…I'd usually be at a party or with Alex or working on cars in our garage."

"Your mom let you work on cars all night?" Emma asked.

Jay nodded, "And on the weekends over the summer I work at my uncles auto shop, that's how I got the money to get my Civics…one, the black one, I actually fixed up for my uncle and then he said I could keep it, and the other one I bought and split the pay with my parents and my uncle."

"That's cool, so that's what you're doing over this summer too right?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah, and you're moving…right?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, to Montreal."

"Do your parents know?"

Emma shrugged, "I think they heard me when I told them but I don't think they were actually listening, there is so much going on in my life right now, it's crazy, they'll be happy to have me out of their hair."

"Real nice of you caring like that, leaving your parents, good daughter."

Emma rolled her eyes and was about to say something else when she heard the bell ring.

"We better leave." Jay said and shot up from the bench, "Come in a little bit after me, so they don't suspect anything…" Jay said.

"Nothing's going on anyway though." Emma said.

Jay shrugged, "All it takes is one person to see us come in together, suspect something and then tell Alex, and I'm screwed." Jay said before hurrying into the school.

_You aren't even in love with her, so why should it matter to you anyway?_

x-

"Okay, what's with you? We've been here at my house for an hour and you've spent like 55 minutes just staring at the clock with that look in your eyes." Manny said worriedly as she applied some cherry lip gloss to her lips and then turned to her best friend.

Emma turned her head to stare at Manny, "What?"

Manny rolled her eyes, "You're looking at the clock like you can't wait to leave. Is there something you're keeping from me? You know I hate secrets kept between you and me."

Emma shrugged, "Not true Manny, and no, there are no secrets…why?"

"What's his name?" Manny asked.

"What?"

"The guy you're apparently crushing on! It's so obvious, what's his name?" Manny asked with a grin.

"No guy." Emma said quickly.

_**Cough, Jay, cough.**_

_Put a sock in it!_

"Sure…" Manny said, cocking her head slightly to the side.

"I'm serious Manny, no guy."

Manny smirked, "Hey, I believe you."

"Sure you do…"

"Well I remember Jordan from seventh grade and every time you thought about him you got that dumb starry gaze in your eyes and you would just zone out for like hours at a time."

Emma glanced down at the ground, for the past five years she had forgotten about Jordan, then she had to go and bring him up.

"Sorry." Manny said, catching the hurt look in her eyes, "Sean's a better example, you did the same with him. So I know you like a guy."

Emma shook her head, "You thought wrong Manny. I've just got a lot on my mind with Snake in the hospital and all."

Manny nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I guess. But that still doesn't cover why you would have that starry like gaze in your eyes…"

"Manny!" Emma exclaimed.

"Okay, sorry…I'll shut up." Manny said quickly and changed the subject.

Emma sighed and glanced around Manny's room, forcing herself to believe that her feelings for Jay were absolutely unacceptable, and that whatever went on between them was strictly business.

x-

"Oh my God, I am the biggest dork…" Emma said, looking at herself in the mirror.

She was wearing a pale blue tee shirt with a white skirt with a belt that was shaped like a bunch of pale blue hearts. Yes, she was dressing herself up for Jay.

_**You know you like him, why don't you just tell him?**_

_Cuz I don't like him._

_**So what are you all dressed up for then? Does math turn you on or something?**_

_I don't like him…_

_**Okay…**_

Emma groaned, dressing up was a dumb idea.

She tugged her skirt down and yanked off her shirt before stalking off towards her dresser drawers and pulling out a white wife beater and a pair of silky pajama pants that were sky blue with white clouds all over them, she took her chest bone length blonde hair and pulled it up into a ponytail before folding up her starting outfit and putting it back in her drawers and then grabbing her books and running upstairs.

x-

She heard the doorbell about ten minutes later.

She leapt up from the couch and made her way to the front door, opening it "casually".

"Hey Jay…" she said with a smile as she opened up the door, but her smile faded and her eyes widened as she saw who was standing on her porch.

And it wasn't Jay.

It was Alex…and she looked _very_ pissed.

**-x-**

**What did you think?**

**Please review!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	9. Secrets Slip

**Thanks for the reviews everyone, I'm already over 150 which ROCKS!**

**Thanks so much and here is Chapter 9 of _My Finest Hour._**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 9**

**-x-**

"Alex, it's nothing…" Jay said quickly as he and Alex sat on the couch at her house.

"Nothing!" Alex exclaimed to him, "You fought some guy at a party last night who had coincidentally been in a room with Green Peace, today she drug you out of study hall and now you're almost always defending her if Amy, Towerz, or I make fun of her! What the hell is going on Jay and don't say nothing!"

Jay shook his head and placed his hand on his head, "Alex…"

"Are you cheating on me with Nature Freak?" Alex asked.

Jay shook his head, "No, Alex! I'm not cheating on you or anything like that. Why are you so paranoid?"

"Paranoid? I'm not paranoid Jay, God!"

"Maybe we should just break up…" Jay said.

Alex stared at him in shock, "What?"

"It's not working Alex…it's nothing even against you it's just…"

"It's Emma Nelson." Alex finished.

Jay opened his mouth to object but Alex stopped him.

"Don't even say anything Jay." Alex said, "I know that's what it is and if you're about to defend her than that just makes it definitely true. Nelson is dead." Alex said, shooting up from the couch and stalking out of the door.

"Alex!" Jay hollered after her and jogged down the steps of Alex's house only to see Alex driving off in her car.

x-

Alex remembered where Emma lived back from when she was with Paige one time and they were driving around and Paige had pointed it out. Alex didn't care back then however, she never figured she'd go over to Emma's house…guess that plan didn't last.

She hit the doorbell and waited for Emma to answer.

Just then the door swung open and she heard Emma's voice.

"Hey Jay…" she said.

_Oh my God…_Alex thought angrily, now she knew something was going on.

Emma's eyes widened as soon as she saw Alex.

"Uh…hi Alex…" Emma stammered.

Alex simply shot her an angry glare.

"Jay and I broke up." She said roughly.

Emma gulped, "Oh…I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I bet you are." Alex said angrily.

"No, I really am…that sucks." Emma said.

"You little bitch you broke us up!" Alex exclaimed and lunged at her, the two fell onto the floor and wound up rolling around on the floor.

"I didn't do anything!" Emma exclaimed, trying to break out of Alex's grip, Alex simply pushed her back down.

"Yeah I bet you didn't. He always defends you," Alex takes a quick break from speaking to smack Emma's cheek, "he fought somebody who had been around you," cue a yank of hair, "he's never around at night anymore, he left study hall with you today, yeah I bet there is nothing going on!" Alex exclaimed.

Emma sighed, she couldn't tell Alex she was really just tutoring Jay, Jay would hate her.

"Will you please just get off of me!" Emma exclaimed, actually pushing Alex off of her and sitting up, straightening her wife beater before shooting up so that she was standing, she began to back away from Alex, "I promise to you, honest to God that there is _nothing_ going on between Jay and I! I promise!"

Alex stood up as well and walked closer to Emma, making Emma back away even more as if it were a reflex, "You better hope nothing is going on between you and my boyfriend."

"I thought you guys broke up…" Emma said under her breath.

Alex pushed Emma so that she wound up slamming into a wall, "You don't talk back to me, smartass."

Emma gulped slightly and nodded, "Sorry." She said and then pushed Alex aside and straightened herself.

Just then Alex started to laugh.

Emma turned around and glanced at her suspiciously, "What's funny?"

"I just realized Jay would never fall for someone like you. You're some stuck-up prude, bitchy, nature loving freak…I was so stupid to actually think Jay could like someone like you. He actually has good taste in the girls he dates."

Emma pursed her lips together to prevent saying a comeback, but she couldn't restrain herself, "You said Jay has _good _taste in girls, right?"

Alex nodded, "Right."

"And yet…here you stand." Emma said with a sarcastic smirk playing at her lips.

Alex's hands balled into fists at that comeback but slowly unclenched as she grabbed the top of Emma's shirt and tugged her up close and personal to her face, "You better stand your grounds Nelson, I'm being nice to you right now." She said roughly before letting go of her shirt and pushing her onto the ground.

"No, you're actually being really rude. You're nice to Paige, how am I different?" Emma asked, jumping up.

"You see, Paige is my friend. But you…you're not my friend, you're just a bitch who thinks she can steal Jay."

"I'm not trying to steal Jay, Alex! I'm his tutor for God's sake!" she exclaimed, but as soon as the words dropped from her lips she wished she could grab them from where they were floating around in the air and stuff them back in her mouth.

Alex's mouth dropped open, "His tutor?"

Emma gulped, "No…I mean…"

Alex scoffed, "That's why he's never hanging around me? He has a tutor?"

Emma nodded slightly, "Yeah…I-I guess so."

_Idiot, idiot, idiot!_

_**IDIOT!**_

_Hey we agree on something._

_**Yeah, what do you know!**_

"I should have known he wouldn't be cheating on me, especially with you. But I can't believe he has to have a tutor! Especially you, you're in grade eleven, we're in grade twelve…damn that's fucked up. Wait til Towerz and Amy here about this…"

Emma shook her head, "Alex, you can't tell them about this."

"Yes I can, they're my friends. Jay won't care."

"Yes he will! You've been with him for a long time Alex; shouldn't you know stuff like that by now! Jay didn't want anybody to know about him being tutored, so how good of a girlfriend are you if you tell all of his friends that?"

"How good of a friend to confide in are you if you tell my girlfriend that I'm being tutored?" another voice, a familiar male voice said from behind her.

Emma gulped and turned around, only to be face to face with Jay.

"Oh my God…Jay, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to I swear, it slipped out!" Emma exclaimed.

"I trusted you Nelson…I fucking trusted you." Jay said.

"I know, I know. And I am so sorry!"

"Too late for apologies…" Alex sang out from behind her.

"Shove it, Alex." Emma snapped.

Jay shook his head in disbelief, "I knew I couldn't trust you to keep it a secret…and I shared things with you I haven't even told Alex."

"Excuse me?" Alex asked.

"Don't worry about them Alex." Jay piped up.

"Well you couldn't tell things like not loving Alex to Alex now could you?" Emma asked, before letting out a groan and closing her eyes, cursing herself under her breath.

_There you go again._

_**Smooth move, nimrod!**_

"Jay!" Alex exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Jay exclaimed before turning to Emma, "Forget about our tutor sessions. I'm done with you…I'll pay you for the week tomorrow, later Green Peace. Let's go Alex."

Alex nodded like an obedient dog and followed him.

Emma gulped as she saw he two walk out, Jay's arm draped over Alex's shoulder as they walked out of her house, Jay closed the door behind them with a resounding slam.

Emma walked towards the nearest wall and slowly crumpled; she hugged her knees against her chest and rested her head on her knees, and cried.

x-

She was still crying twenty minutes later when she heard a knock on the door.

She got up and wiped her eyes with the hem of her wife beater and walked towards the door, opening it slowly, as if cautious to who would be on her porch.

She opened it the rest of the way and saw Caitlin Ryan-which would be Jeremiah in a few weeks-standing on her porch.

Caitlin had just gotten back from California, after Ryan's Planet had officially flopped while trying to make a comeback; she decided to come back to Toronto.

Joey had actually flown to LA to see her and proposed, she had gladly accepted and in twenty-one days, they would be married.

"Hey Emma!" Caitlin exclaimed and threw her arms around the sixteen-year-old.

"Hey…good to see you're back." Emma replied, hugging her back, "I figured you'd go see Joey first."

"Oh I stopped by our house but he wasn't here, I figured he might be over here." Caitlin said.

Emma shook her head as they broke away, "He might be at the hospital though."

Caitlin nodded in understanding, "Yeah…I heard about Snake, I was going to head over to the hospital in a bit to see them but-" she cut herself off when she noticed Emma's tearstained cheeks, "-Emma, what's wrong?"

Emma shook her head and wiped one of her eyes, "It's nothing."

"It's something." Caitlin corrected her, "Honey, what happened?" she asked, stepping inside of the house.

"No…I'm fine. Just school related stuff." Emma said.

"It's a boy, isn't it?"

Emma nodded, and just like that, the whole entire story spilled out, starting with when Emma first met Jay to ending with the second he walked out of her front door only twenty-five minutes before.

"So you feel bad that you lost a really good friendship with Jay?" Caitlin asked.  
Emma shrugged, "He was the only person I could actually talk to about my problems besides my diary, who doesn't talk back, and Manny who well…doesn't really always give advice and half the time she barely listens. But Jay…Jay listened and we talked about stuff like that and we shared our problems and all of that!"

"I think this was turning into more of a friendship Emma, if he was talking bad about his girlfriend to you, fighting people for you, sticking up for you, confiding in you, and kissing you and doing…uh…certain…_things_ with you last year and then almost kissing you this year…I think there is something more going on."

Emma shook her head, "I was pretty much like his journal, he figured he could trust me. But then I spilled them out on accident. I was supposed to be his friend."

Caitlin sighed, "Accidents happen, Emma…Alex had you in a scary position."

"I know, but he trusted me!" Emma exclaimed, tears leaking down her cheeks.

Caitlin put her arm around Emma comfortingly, "It's not all your fault, Emma."

"Yes it is." Emma sobbed.

"No, it's not. Alex was going to really hurt you if you didn't tell her _something_."

"Well I could have at least lied!" Emma exclaimed.

"Like saying that the two of you were actually dating behind her back?" Caitlin asked.

Emma shrugged, "I just should have said something."

Caitlin sighed as Emma rested her head against her shoulder and continued to cry.

"And you want to know the truth, Caitlin?" Emma asked after five minutes of silence.

"What's the truth?" Caitlin asked.

Emma sighed, "I've really fallen hard for him."

x-

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**P.S. So sorry for the horribly written fight scene...**


	10. Back to the Soaps

**Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews! I know this story is going a bit fast and I'm really sorry about that!**

**Anyways, here is Chapter 10 of My Finest Hour and I hope you guys like it! I personally hated Chapter 9 because I hated the fact that Alex found out and then Jay got mad at Emma but oh well...happy reading!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 10**

**-x-**

"So is it true?" Towerz asked Jay the next day at school as the two stood at their lockers, "Green Peace was tutoring you?"

"Shut up." Jay said, slamming his locker shut.

"So it _is_ true." Towerz concluded.

"It _was_ true, Towerz." Jay corrected him.

Towerz nodded, "That's right, you fired the girl. It's for your own good anyway…she's a total goody-goody."

"Goody-goody?" Jay practically laughed at the sound of it.

"Man shut up." Towerz said.

Jay shrugged, "Hanging around with Van Zandt again?" Jay asked.

"Now Jay, I wouldn't be going around making jokes about your new tutor." An older voice said from behind the two.

Jay spun around and was face to face with Ms. Kwan.

"Oh, uh…Ms. Kwan…what did you mean by that?" Jay questioned.

Ms. Kwan gave him a soft smile, "I heard that you and Miss Nelson had a small dispute yesterday, so she came to my class earlier today and said that she could no longer fulfill the job and she suggested that Liberty tutor you instead."

_She's punishing me, damn it Emma! _Jay thought to himself.

"Oh…" Jay said, not being able to comprehend much more.

"So the two of you will meet after school for your first tutor session, okay? It'll be the same as when Emma was tutoring you with the amount paid each week and hours spent each day just now instead of Emma you have Liberty. Goodbye Jay." Ms. Kwan said and with a small smile she walked off.

Jay's mouth dropped open and he turned around and punched his locker.

"Damn, I would have just stuck with Green Peace." Towerz said with a chuckle, patting his friend's back sympathetically before walking off down the hallway.

Jay sighed and turned around, leaning his head against his locker.

Just then he glanced over and saw Emma walking down the hallway close to where he was.

She was wearing a tan camisole with a dark pink lace trim around the top with a dark pink shrug over it along with a paisley ruffled miniskirt and a pair of light pink ballet flats.

Her hair was hanging down and had a small wave to it and she was walking down the hallway with Manny Santos by her side.

She looked up into Jay's brown eyes with her green ones for one single second before looking back to Manny as they continued to walk and Manny continued to talk.

However, that one look that Emma gave him, that small look that lasted one second, had made Jay's heartbeat quicken.

He sighed before leaning back up from where he stood against his locker and walking off in the other direction.

-x-

"So then you would just-" Liberty Van Zandt quit talking once she noticed that Jay Hogart was not listening to a word she said.

He was staring at the hot tub in the Van Zandt's back porch as if it held the true meaning of life.

"Jay, hello?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of him.

Jay shot up and glanced over at her, "Oh…it's you. Were you saying something?"

Liberty rolled her eyes, "Of course it would be me, who else would it be?"

Jay shook his head and stared down at the table that they were sitting at.

"Okay, I know you don't want to be tutored by me, and I don't even want to be tutoring you…you'd be much happier if you were off with Amy and Towerz right?"

Jay shook his head, "No."

"Alex?"

Jay shook his head.

Liberty gulped, "…Emma?"

Jay nodded and glanced at her, "Yeah." Just then he remembered what happened last time he had confided in someone, he shot up from the chair he was seated in, "If you tell anyone that…I swear to God I'll-"

Liberty laughed and held out her hands in front of her face, shaking them as if to say _don't worry_, "Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone that you have a crush on Emma."

Jay scoffed, "I do _not_ have a crush on her."

Liberty nodded and held out her hand to his, "Good cover…really. I won't tell. So since I'm sure you'd rather be with Emma, you can just forget about this whole episode about me being your tutor…"

Jay shook his head, "I think it's better if you stuck to tutoring me."

Liberty glanced at him wide-eyed, "Are you sure? I mean you barely pay attention…"

Jay sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to her, "Here…for the brief tutoring that went on."

Liberty glanced at him and let out a soft laugh, "Gee thanks Jay…this'll pay for college." She said sarcastically.

Jay smirked before grabbing his messenger style bag and throwing it over his shoulder, hurrying off of her porch and towards the front of her house.

Liberty heard his car start and within seconds she could see the red Civic driving off down her street.

She laughed to herself before sliding the dollar into her jeans pocket and walking off into her house.

-x-

Emma sighed and dipped her spoon into her Ben and Jerry's _Cherry Garcia_ ice cream and licked it off the spoon, swallowing the sweet taste.

She sighed and leaned against her couch, closing her eyes.

She was in her lime green pajama pants with hot pink polka dots on it along with a hot pink tank top.

Her blonde hair was pulled up into a half ponytail and she was wearing her white slippers that had frogs on them.

She had just finished her homework and was now sitting on the couch watching the final minutes of _General Hospital_…she was back to the soap operas, just as she always was whenever she was depressed.

"Dillon, watch out for her, she's gonna get hurt! These shows are so predictable." Emma sighed, as she watched the show.

Just as she had predicted, his girlfriend, Georgie, fell and hit her head on a bench.

"Ouch!" Emma exclaimed, and her hand immediately went to her forehead as if it had been her who had hit her head.

She sighed as the show went to commercials and said _"Stay tuned for scenes from the next General Hospital_".

"Who ends a show like that? I mean seriously…" Emma said and placed more ice cream in her mouth.

Just then she heard a car door shut.

She shot up from the couch and raced to the window, only to see Jay jogging up her walk and to her porch.

She gulped and right away heard the doorbell.

Emma took a few steps out of the living room and walked to the door, swinging it open and saw Jay, her heartbeat sped up.

"Hey Emma…" Jay said, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

Emma bit her lip, "Hey."

Jay reached into his pocket and placed a few dollar bills in her hand.

Emma glanced down at them and counted out seventy-five dollars.

"Thanks…" Emma said to him quietly.

Jay shrugged his shoulders up and down, "Well I had to pay you, I couldn't really get out of it."

Emma looked down at the ground and nodded.

It seemed like hours that the two just stood there.

Jay darted his eyes around, considering what it was that he should be saying.

"So…can I come in or what?" Jay asked.

Emma's head flung up and she stared at him confusingly before she simply nodded and stepped aside so that Jay could step into the house.

He made his way towards the living room and saw the television which was blaring with a soap opera preview; he noticed a small carton of _Cherry Garcia_ sitting on the coffee table and then noticed that Emma was in pajamas.

"What's with you?" Jay asked, glancing around the living room before letting his eyes settle on her.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"You're watching soap operas, eating Ben and Jerry's _and _you're in pajamas, are you sick?"

Emma shook her head, "No, I just felt like it…"

Jay rolled his eyes, "Look, I came here to say I'm sorry…"

Emma's head shot up and she stared at him suspiciously, "You're sorry?"

Jay nodded, "I was a jackass yesterday."

Emma sighed, "It was my fault…I shouldn't have told Alex all of that."

Jay glanced at his shoes.

"Jay, I'm really sorry!" Emma exclaimed.

Jay shook his head, "Its okay…I guess. I mean I _am_ still pissed off at you for that, but its okay."

"Are you sure?" Emma asked.

Jay nodded and smirked at you, "Yeah, its okay. But you owe me for more than one thing."

"What?"

"Well first, you told Alex that you were tutoring me, and second, when you were through with tutoring me you put me with Liberty Van Zandt!"

Emma grinned at the last part, "Well it was either her or Toby."

"You owe me so bad." Jay said, trying to act angry, but he wasn't. He was just happy that they had made up, even though it had only been a day, he had really missed Emma.

Emma's lips twitched, "How can I owe you?" she asked.

Jay sighed and pretended to contemplate the situation; he looked down at her _Cherry Garcia_ and then turned to her, "Have anymore Ben and Jerry's?"

-x-

The two sat on the couch and stuffed their faces full of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, switching off an on between cartons since Emma had the _Cherry Garcia_ and he had the _Chunky Monkey_.

"Elvis, Elvis, Elvis!" he exclaimed.

Emma glanced at him before laughing as the two watched _Family Feud_.

"Elvis isn't that great you know…" Emma said.

Jay stared at her as if she was insane, "Elvis is the _king_. Take it back."

Emma laughed and leaned her head against the back of the couch and kicked her feet out on the coffee table, just as Jay had his.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Marilyn Monroe."

Jay scoffed, "_Marilyn Monroe?_ You think she changed our world in the entertainment industry?"

Emma nodded, "She's probably one of the top six."

Just as she finished saying that, Marilyn Monroe showed up on the board as soon as the host said "Survey Says".

"Ha!" Emma said sarcastically.

Just then Elvis' name popped up in the number one spot.

"Ha-_ha_." Jay said and dipped his spoon in her ice cream and took a big spoonful, stuffing it in his mouth, it smeared over his lips and he licked it off.

"You're sick." Emma said, turning her head away.

Jay shrugged, "I finished the _Chunky Monkey_."

Emma rolled her eyes and let out a laugh.

"So should we be getting to studying?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded, "Yeah, Christmas break is about to come up which means mid-terms."

"I love those." He said sarcastically.

Emma slid her legs off of the coffee table and stood up, "I'll go get my books." She said before sitting down her carton of ice cream and heading off towards the basement.

Jay rested his head against the back of her couch before a sneaky smirk grazed across his lips.

He leaned over and grabbed her _Cherry Garcia_ ice cream and dipped his spoon in, stuffing big spoonfuls into his mouth.

After five large swallows he felt his head hurting, "Oh brain-freeze!" he exclaimed aloud.

He could hear Emma's voice as she came up the stairs, "Stay away from my ice cream!"

-x-

**I wasn't going to make them hate each other forever (or even an entire chapter!); I couldn't stand it…he-he.**

**Anyways, hope you liked it.**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	11. The Wedding Date

**AN: Hello fantastic people! I don't get to write very much this weekend (family is in town), so I figured I'd post this chapter (since it's the last one I have written for now, Chapter 12 is in the works however) for all of you! So here's a few shout outs first and to anyone not mentioned in them, you know I love you just as much and thanks for the reviews, you rock!**

**-**

**rebelangel566: **I made your day? Sweetness! Thanks!

**Bridget N: **Very cute…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Knightsgurl: **I love them too! Thanks!

**Lena Le2006:** Glad you liked it! Thanks!

**Llamachick890: **Go General Hospital! He-he…I can't wait to see them together either (whenever that may be)! P.S. Love the name!

**AntiIRONY: **I'm glad they don't hate each other anymore either…lol. Thanks for the review!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **Welcome home! He-he…thanks for the review, glad you like the story!

**Idontknowanything: **Yeah, I figured I'd hold out for a bit until the whole romance thing kicks in, so they can _at least_ get to know each other. Thanks!

**Saraofthedead: **I wouldn't say I'm _awesome_…but thanks! That's awesome that you said that…makes me feel all warm inside…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Kaysie: **Here's more! Thanks!

**NotBreathing: **Yeah, they were acting pretty cute I guess…lol. Thanks for the review!

**DFreak:**I can't wait to see kissing either! He-he…it'll either be Chapter 12 or Chapter 13 more than likely…now I've said too much…thanks!

**Mickey Mouse Gloves: **Awesome name, I saw a picture of Jesse McCartney wearing Mickey Mouse Gloves one time, he looked so cute…lol. Thanks for the review; I'm glad they made up too!

**Linzer-B:** I love romances when the characters try not to show that they love each other…lol. I'm a sucker for romances like that, I can't help it! Thanks for all of your reviews; if it wasn't for you I wouldn't even really _have_ this story!

**BarelyAlive:** Thanks for the tip…I will definitely make changes in their eye color, but I dunno…I think Jay's eyes might be gray…lol. I need to watch Secrets again; it gives the best view of his eyes. But thanks for the review!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **Doesn't he though? He-he, like in the episode Secrets whenever he's looking up in the van and he has that smirk on his face, it's so cute! Thanks for the review!

**And to everyone else: **ShimmeringEvil, Roxanne76, danneell, animechick, So-Over-Him, thengrl13, chealsea, ericaw1992, OneTreeHillGirl, Courtney Howard, Plastic Strawberries, be11011…**thanks everyone, you all rock! And here's Chapter 11…hope you like!**

**-**

**R&R and please, no flames.**

**Lotsa love!**

**-Degrassichick**

**P.S. I speeded things up a bit in this chapter (I don't think it's rushed, but I kind of fast forwarded a few weeks!)**

**-x-**

**Chapter 11**

**-x-**

The next few weeks came and went, each day, Jay and Emma would meet at her house and study hard for five hours, well technically, only two and a half hours since the other two and a half were spent goofing around, binging on junk food, and watching television, and then he would stay an extra hour just to hang around with Emma and Jack, he would go with her to pick him up and then they would usually go out and grab a bite to eat from a burger joint or ice cream parlor, or The Dot. Jay didn't care if people saw him with Emma anymore; most of the school already knew he was being tutored by now anyway.

Jay's grades were improving and he now maintained a C average, which was very good.

The bad part of it all however (for Emma at least), was that Alex and Jay were once again dating-which Emma could not believe. Apparently, Alex and Jay made up and got back together the same day that he made up with Emma, after he left her house he went to the movie theater to apologize to Alex; every day that Emma saw the two together it drove her crazy but she didn't say anything, even though she could feel herself falling faster for him by each passing second.

Emma seemed to barely ever see her parents anymore, now they were always either at doctor's appointments or at hospitals for Snake, or they were going over wedding details with Joey and Caitlin.

She was now receiving money each week however, seventy-five from Jay and sometimes fifteen extra for some unknown reason and twenty bucks every other day for babysitting Jack on a daily basis, so she was definitely making enough money to hopefully get her to Montreal and through college, and she earning a lot of credits for Jay so she could definitely now graduate early.

The Christmas season had ended and now it was all up to New Years Eve to pull in the big finale.

Emma sighed boredly as her foot tapped on the wood floor of the Jeremiah residence as she watched her parents and Joey and Caitlin scurry around the house, going over last things for the wedding which was in two days, on New Years Eve.

She was bored out of her mind but her parents wanted her to go with them and hang out with Jack and Angie, because Craig was off in his own bedroom with Ashley Kerwin.

She glanced at Jack who was sitting on a fleece blanket while eight year old Angie ran around the adults, obviously hyper.

Emma walked over to Jack and scooped him up, holding him against her.

"Bored?" she asked him.

He nodded, "Very."

He was learning more words and able to answer questions better now that he understood them, but you could only ask simple or short questions, her parents barely got that and were still trying to get him to answer full blown questions like "What's my name?" which he could answer but some like, "What is this color?" which he never understood.

His favorite though out of the people normally at the Simpson-Nelson residence was by far, Jay Hogart.

Each day, Jay made sure that he would spend some time with him and Jack loved it and Jack loved him.

"Where's Jay?" he asked, his voice somewhat slurry since he wasn't old enough for his voice to be completely clear when he asked a question.

"I don't know sweetie." Emma said and gave him a kiss on his temple.

"Emma! Someone's at the door for you!" Angie exclaimed.

Emma stared around suspiciously, who would go to Joey's house to see her?

She walked over to the foyer and saw Jay at the door.

"Jay!" Jack exclaimed.

"Hey Jack!" Jay exclaimed back to the tot and took him out of Emma's arms and held him up above his head.

Emma could feel herself blushing so she leaned her head down.

"So how did you know I was at Joey's?" Emma asked.

"I saw your parent's car in the driveway so I just came by to see if you were here." Jay said, as Jack tugged on Jay's ears playfully.

Emma nodded, "Well you can come in if you want." She said and held open the door for him.

Snake glanced out of the living room and saw Jay, "Hey Jay..." he said somewhat stiffly, he hadn't trusted Jay with his daughtersince the day he saw him practically cornering Emma against a bookshelf in the library, but he hadn't trusted Jay period since the day he started Degrassi. The two had been on better terms however once he found out that Emma was simply tutoring him and that Jack liked him so much.

"Hey Mr. Simpson, how are you?" Jay asked, trying to be polite.

"I'm alright, how are you?" Mr. Simpson asked.

"I'm doing good." Jay said with a slight nod.

"You're doing _well_." Emma corrected him.

Jay rolled his eyes at her, "That doesn't even make sense." he said.

Emma rolled her eyes right back at him.

Jay glanced around the room before turning to her, "So, what's going on?"

"Joey and Caitlin are getting married so they're just going over last minute detail." Emma explained.

Jay nodded, "Cool. When is the wedding?"

"Two days." Emma replied.

"New Years?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded.

"Are you in it?"

Emma nodded again, "Bridesmaid, my mom's the maid of honor, Angie's the flower girl, and Caitlin's friend Lucy and I are the bridesmaids."

"Awesome and the best man I'm guessing is Snake?"

Emma nodded, "And the ring bearer is Jack, and the groomsmen are Craig and Joey's friend Wheels."

Jay nodded, "I've never been to a wedding in my whole life."

Emma stared at him, "Are you serious?"  
Jay nodded, "Dead, never been to a wedding."

"Wow…" just then a thought popped into her head, but it was taking a somewhat big leap, "well…I could change that."

Jay glanced at her suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

"How about you come to the wedding with me?"

"Like as a date?"

Emma shrugged, "Or just as friends."

Jay stared at his feet before looking up at her, "Okay, I'll come."

Emma grinned, "Awesome."

"Do I need an invitation or something?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "On my invitation it said 'and guest' and Manny's already coming so…"

"Oh now I feel good." Jay said sarcastically.

Emma grinned, "And you should. But anyways, it starts at noon on Saturday so just be at my house at like eleven or so, okay?"

Jay nodded, "Okay."

"Okay…"

The two stood in silence for a few moments before Jay spoke up.

"Okay, well I better get going. So I'll see you tomorrow, Emma."

Emma nodded, "Okay, see you."

"Bye." Jay said and took Jack and placed him back in Emma's arms.

"Jay!" Jack exclaimed.

Jay smiled at him and ran his hands through the small amount of hair on his head before smiling at Emma and heading out the door.

Emma sighed and actually began to spin around with Jack in her arms.

"_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream!_" she sang out.

Caitlin and Joey glanced at the girl suspiciously.

"Is she okay?" Joey asked.

Caitlin shook her head, "She's in love."

-x-

As Saturday morning came, Emma could be found lying on the couch in her pajamas, eating a bowl of _Fruit Loops _and watching some Saturday morning cartoon.

"Emma, you should be getting ready for the wedding." Spike told her as she watched through the living room.

"I've got time, it's only…" she broke away from talking to glance at the wall clock which read _10:45_, "crap!" she exclaimed and shot up from the couch, sitting her bowl of cereal down on the coffee table and hurrying out of the living room and towards the door that led to the basement.

As soon as she got into her bedroom, she changed out of her pajamas and into a pair of faded flare blue jeans and an olive green tee shirt with a brown leather jacket over it.

She ran to her mirror and combed her blonde hair up into a ponytail and applied some lip gloss and mascara, just then the doorbell rang.

She sighed, Jay was obviously a bit early.

She glanced over at her digital clock and it read _11:01_…never mind that.

"Jay, she's just downstairs." She heard Spike say and then in a matter of seconds, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

She dropped her make up and tried to look casual by leaning against her dresser and pretending to examine her fingernails.

"What are you doing?" she heard Jay asked.

She lifted her head and saw Jay, "Oh…hey, Jay. I didn't hear you come in."

Jay rolled his eyes, "Okay, sure. So what time do you guys have to head to the church for the wedding?" he asked.

"Right now." Emma heard Spike say.

Emma glanced over and saw her mom at the foot of the stairs, "Emma, are you getting a ride with Jay?" Spike asked.

Emma shrugged, "Is that okay with you?" Emma asked, turning to Jay.

Jay shrugged right back to her, "Doesn't matter. Sure."

Emma turned to her mom and nodded.

Spike smiled, "Okay, well your dad, Jack, and I are heading over there right now, just be sure to be there before eleven thirty, okay? You have to get ready."

Emma nodded, "Okay."

Spike smiled at the two before turning and hurrying up the stairs.

"So should we head over to the church right now?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "We don't have to be there for thirty minutes."

Jay nodded, "Okay." He said and glanced around her bedroom before flopping onto her bed and letting out a long exasperated sigh.

"Get out of my bed." Emma told him.

Jay shook his head, "No can do…sorry." he said and leaned himself into her pillows, closing his eyes.

"Jay! Get out. Alex would be pissed if she knew you were in my bed."

Jay glanced at her suspiciously, "What makes you think she would know…?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know…just will you get out?"

Jay sighed and then shook his head, "Nope, sorry. I'll be out in twenty minutes, though. I promise."

"Jay!" Emma exclaimed and jumped on the bed, trying to push him off.

"Are you trying to hurt me or something?" Jay asked as he was nearing the edge of her bed.

"No." Emma said and finally gave him the nudge that sent him falling to the ground, "It's for your own protection, I promise."

Jay got up and stared down at her, "Oh yeah?"

Emma noticed that his hat had fallen off of his head and how insanely cute he looked without his hat, before nodding, "Yeah…" she said with a smirk as he climbed back on the bed in attempt to push her off.

"I love revenge." He said, starting to nudge her.

"You better not push me off of my own bed." She said and sat up, trying to climb over him but as soon as she had one leg on either side of him, he grabbed her forearms and held her there so she was directly above him.

"Uh…Jay…" Emma murmured as she felt their lips slowly nearing, they were barely apart when…

"EMMA!" she heard a voice call from outside her window.

Jay let go of Emma's arms right away and it made her actually roll off the bed and land on her plush carpet.

She got up and smoothed down her outfit before walking over to her window and peaking out of it, only to see Manny Santos standing there.

"Manny, what?" Emma asked.

"I need a ride to the wedding; my parents dropped me off here on there way out of town." Manny said before glancing over near their driveway, "But I don't see your parents' car here…how are you getting to the wedding?"

"I'm giving her a ride." Jay said and walked over to the girls.

Manny's mouth dropped open, "Let me in." she said.

Emma sighed and lifted up the slightly opened window the rest of the way and let Manny climb through and drop to the floor.  
Manny glanced at Jay suspiciously, circling him with a mysterious look in her dark eyes, "Em, what is _Jay Hogart _doing in your bedroom?" she asked, giving Emma a suspicious look.

"He's giving me a ride to the wedding." Emma said.

Manny simply stared at her, that answer was obviously not satisfying enough for Manuela Santos, "Why…?"

"She's my tutor, Santos." Jay said.

Manny's stared at the two as if they were insane, "Seriously?" she asked, holding back a laugh.

"Yes." Jay and Emma wound up saying in unison.

"Oh…wow…" Manny said, letting out a slight giggle.

Jay rolled his eyes at the girl.

"Well, we better get going." Emma said.

Jay nodded in agreement, "Do you need a ride Manny?"

Manny stared at him questioningly, "From you?"

"Manny!" Emma said.

Manny rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I guess." She said before making her way out of the bedroom and jogging up the stairs.

Emma glanced at Jay apologetically for having to give a ride to someone else as well before walking off and following Manny up the stairs.

Jay sighed and placed his hat back on his head, before following the girls up the stairs and mentally slapping himself for not just kissing her sooner.

-x-

**What'd you think?**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	12. The Wedding

**AN: Hey everybody! Here's a few shout outs:**

**-**

**DFreak: **Whoa…I'm not sure if I could write something like that! I mean, I probably could write it…but it would be absolutely horrible! But who knows? I might decide to…lol. No, you're not sick minded, and I love Emma and Jay too! Thanks for the review!

**Ericaw1992: **K! lol…thanks for the review!

**BarelyAlive: **Thank you, thank you, thank you…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B:** Well whether or not they kiss at midnight won't be revealed in this chapter (but I pretty much flat out tell you at the end of this chapter…okay, I seriously need to stop giving hints…but oh well, lol!) thanks for the review!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **I love you too! He-he, I personally think Jay looks so adorable without his hat on so yeah, had to stick that line into the last chapter! Thanks for the review!

**XxAnGeL02xX:** Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the story!

**Slum: **Yep, she had to go and ruin the moment…typical Manny Santos…lol. Thanks for the review!

**OneTreeHillGirl: **I know! The anxiety for the kiss scene is killing me! He-he, mostly just because I haven't written it yet, but I'm about to write Chapter 13 so that may just be the chapter when it happens! Thanks for the review!

**CassieSteele**: Sorry for confusing you with the last chapter title! And thanks for calling me an amazing writer! Glad you like the story and thanks for the review!

**xcrazibabii69x:** Don't worry, kissing scene will be…uh…oh just wait til you read the ending Authors Note…it'll tell ya! Thanks for the review!

**fcms1163: **Go Jemma! Lol…you thought Jay would propose? Lol…yeah, my chapter title did confuse people, sorry! But they would make a cute married couple…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Lady-Kitty:**I know! I blame Manny…lol. Thanks for the review!

**slyswn28283: **Yeah, well Emma's asking Jay for the date may come and bite her in the butt…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Degrassiluvr: **Thank you!

**Ocisforme: **Thanks! I love Emma/Jay too! OC…does that mean the show The OC? Cuz if it does, I am so with you there, I love The OC! Almost as much as I love Degrassi…almost! XD!

**Brooke:** Thanks for the review, hope you like the chapter!

**antiIRONY: **Yeah, and the previews for it on The N were like "When enemies can become lovers" which makes you think that they could actually end up dating and they didn't…which sucked! I agree that Epitome should read the fan fictions. Thanks for the review!

**Mickey Mouse Gloves:** You'll just have to read the chapter to find out! Thanks for the review!

**And to everybody else: **writingismything, Etom, chrisbenoit99, Sweet-Sucide-41, So-Over-Him, ShimmeringEvil, Lena Le2006, Allie, Queenie, be11011, rebelangel566, Bridget N, PrudencePiperHalliwell, Plastic Strawberries, chealsea, yalissa, and EmDee8907…you guys rock!

Thank you so much for the reviews everyone!

-

**So, without further ado (lol)…here is Chapter 12…hope you like it!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 12**

**-x-**

"Oh Emma, honey, you look beautiful!" Spike gushed as she looked at her daughter decked out in her bridesmaid gown.

Emma walked over to the body length mirror and glanced at herself, she had to admit, she looked much better for Caitlin and Joey's wedding than she did for her parents, which was rather sad when she thought about it.

Joey and Caitlin's wedding colors were sugarplum, silver, and white, therefore Emma was wearing an off-the-shoulder sugarplum colored gown that fell all the way to her toes along with a silver necklace with a small heart in the middle with a small diamond on it.

Since her shoulders were bare, Lucy had put a small amount of glitter lotion on them so they had a slight sparkle to them.

They had decided against putting her hair in another perm so instead they had simply curled her hair with a curling iron and then pulled it up into a bun with a few spiral tendrils spilling out and another few that shaped her face.

"Thanks mom." Emma said, smiling at her mom.

Caitlin turned and smiled at Spike, Emma, Angela, and Lucy, "Okay, I guess it's time to get going, isn't it?"

Spike smiled and walked over to her best friend, hugging her tightly, "I'm so happy for you!"

Emma did one more check in the mirror before the five of them walked out of the dressing room and into the main lobby of the chapel to wait for the groom's party.

"Emma you look beautiful!" Snake said, glancing down at his stepdaughter with a smile on his face.

"Thanks dad." Emma said and smiled, "It's just a good thing I didn't use a perm kit…right mom?"

Spike laughed and shook her head, remembering the moment, "Right."

Just then, music started to play and Emma saw her baby brother walking through the already open chapel doors and down the aisle with the pillow with the rings on it in his hands.

Angela went next, smiling happily at Caitlin before turning and walking off down the aisle, sprinkling down a few flower petals for every step she took.

Emma smiled over at Craig who had his arm looped through hers before they began their walk down the aisle.

-x-

Jay smiled at Jack as he walked down the aisle slowly, trying to hold onto the pillow.

He turned and looked at Jay and smiled at him, he almost lifted his hand for a wave until Jay shook his head no and just waved his hand forward, telling him to go on.

"Angie looks beautiful." Manny whispered from where she stood next to Jay along with Spinner.

Jay nodded in agreement as he watched Craig's little sister walk down the aisle as the flower girl.

"Oh my God…she looks great!" Manny exclaimed in a whisper.

Jay rolled his eyes as he continued to watch Angie, "I know Manny, you already said that."

"I'm not talking about Angie, look behind you." Manny said.

Jay turned his head and suddenly he saw Emma walking slowly down the aisle arm-in-arm with Craig.

His eyes widened and he could feel his heartbeat quickening, she looked beautiful!

She was wearing a gown in a purplish color and her hair was pulled up into a bun with curled tendrils spilling out, her shoulders were bare and sparkly and her face looked angelic due to the light pink lipstick and light silver eye shadow and the small amount of blush on her cheeks, he wasn't sure if that was actual blush or if she was blushing.

Emma glanced at him for a second and smiled before she and Craig walked past their row.

Jay watched her walk almost the rest of the way down before turning and watching the rest of the people walk down the aisle before it was finally Caitlin's turn.

-x-

Emma smiled as she watched Caitlin and Joey recite their vows before placing their rings on each other's fingers; she could feel tears stinging her eyes.

They reminded her of one of those movie couples who were together in the beginning, broke up in the climax, and got back together in the big finale.

She could just see it in their eyes how much they loved each other, and when they kissed, she knew that this marriage would last forever.

"Ready?" Craig asked, turning to Emma and holding out his arm.

Emma smiled at him and looped her arm back through his as everybody walked off down the aisle; everything was perfect…well almost.

Emma watched as Jack slowly waddled in front of her and Craig before he turned and pointed, "Jay!" he exclaimed and ran off towards Jay's row and leaped up onto his lap and began speaking loudly about the wedding.

Emma watched as Jay stared at everyone apologetically and tried to make Jack be a bit quieter.

Emma smirked slightly before she began to laugh as people started to stare at Jack and Jay.

Jack glanced around at people and shrugged before jumping off of Jay's lap, waddling back down the row, stepping on Manny's foot, and making it back to the aisle.

"Ow!" Manny exclaimed, rubbing her hand over her heeled foot.

Emma grinned and then watched as Jack waddled on down the aisle.

She and Craig glanced around at all the laughing people before she noticed that Jay was shooting her a bashful glance that she could just barely see out of the corner of her eye but she was pretty sure that he was or was very close to blushing.

She grinned to herself before she and Craig made it out of the aisle and into the lobby of the church.

"Well that was unforgettable." Craig said with a small smirk as the two stood there waiting for the bride and groom to make it into the lobby.

Jack glanced around the lobby in awe before turning around and heading back into the main church part, probably looking for Spike and Snake.

"Definitely." Emma said with a small smile as she watched Joey and Caitlin hurry into the lobby and give each other a kiss.

Emma and Craig whooped and cupped their hands around their mouths.

Emma glanced over at Lucy who had her head leaning against Wheel's shoulder as they laughed.

Joey and Caitlin smiled at them before giving each other one more kiss on the lips.

"Could you please save some for the honeymoon…or at least after the reception?" Craig questioned.

Emma's mouth dropped open and she slugged Craig playfully against the chest, "Craig!"

Craig shrugged, "I didn't do anything."

Just then Ashley appeared into the lobby, "Hey Craig, you looked great out there." She said with a smile and gave him a kiss on the lips, "Emma, I love your dress."

Emma glanced down at the gown and smiled up at Ashley, "Thanks Ashley…I think I'm going to go find my parents, they're not here." Emma said, glancing around the lobby before turning and heading back towards the aisle.

She finally saw them sitting at one of the benches in a deep conversation with some couple.  
She rolled her eyes and then glanced over to where Jay and Manny had been sitting, she saw Manny and Spinner standing over by Jimmy and Marco, it was a very stiff conversation since it was pretty much just Manny talking up a storm since Spinner wasn't on the best terms with Jimmy or Marco.

She glanced around a bit more, still in search of Jay.

"Looking for someone?" A voice said from behind her.

She practically jumped a foot in the air before turning around and seeing Jay behind her with Jack perched against the side of his stomach, his small legs wrapped around Jay's thigh.

"Well that's a good look for you Mr. Mom." Emma said before laughing

Jay rolled his eyes, "He waddled his way back over to me after you guys were in the lobby."

Emma laughed to herself, _so that's where he went…_

"Hey Emma, Jay." Spike said, walking over to them, "Jack has grown quite attached to you, hasn't he Jay?"

Jay nodded, "Are you wanting him back?"

Spike nodded, "We wanted him to meet the Cooper's…they have a daughter around his age and we figured they could play together at the reception."

"I'm gonna play with Jay." Jack said to them, obviously understanding what they were talking about.

Emma smirked over towards Jay, "Well Jay, you may never get rid of the tike."

"Come here sweetie." Spike said, holding out her arms.

Jay sighed and held out Jack to her.

Spike smiled at Jay, "Thanks Jay." She said before perching Jay on her hip and walking back towards Snake.  
Emma glanced at Jay who had a look of sadness glazing across his eyes, "Jay, you'll get to see him at the reception."

Jay rolled his eyes, "I'm not hurt because I had to give your brother to his mom."

Emma grinned at him and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, okay. Do you always get teary like this then?"

Jay wiped his hand over his eye, "I'm not cry—oh shut up already."

Emma let out a small laugh before speaking once again, "Are you giving me a ride to the reception?"

Jay shrugged, "Yeah, I can. Don't they want you to ride in the limo or something?"

"That's for the bride and groom." She said factually.

Jay nodded, "Oh…well yeah, I guess I can give you a ride. Is Manny gonna need one too?"

Emma shook her head, "Spinner's here so she's getting a ride with him."

"I'm confused to how he showed up." Jay said.

"Craig invited him." Emma said.

Jay glanced at her confusingly, "But they're not friends are they?"

Emma shrugged, "I guess they made up. Now c'mon." she said and looped her arm through his, practically pulling him out of the church.

-x-

"Jay, can't it wait?" Emma asked.

"I need a soda." Jay said.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Then get one at the reception!"

"They might not have Pepsi."

"I'm sure they'll have Pepsi, Jay."

Jay shrugged, "Just to be sure." He said and turned a corner and drove into the parking lot of a gas station.

"I can _not_ believe you." Emma said, her arms crossed over her chest.

Jay opened the door and hopped out, "Do you want anything?"

Emma shot him a glare that obviously stated no.

"Okay, okay. I'll be out in a minute or two." Jay said and jogged off into the gas station.

-x-

By the time they made it to the large hotel that the reception was held in, Emma noticed that the entire bridal party was waiting for Emma in the lobby.

"Emma, there you are!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Sorry I'm a bit late." Emma said, "Jay just _had_ to get a soda at the gas station." Her eyes darted over to Jay who was taking a swig out of his Pepsi bottle.

"No problem." Lucy said, after looking over at Jay and laughing.

Joey came up from behind Caitlin and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "Hey Mrs. Jeremiah."

"Hello Mr. Jeremiah." She grinned and turned around to face him, joining him in a lip lock.

"Wedding night!" Craig reminded the two.

The group laughed and all entered the "Ball Room" as the hotel called it, where there were tons of people gathered around at tables that each had a small glass with water and a candle floating inside.

There was a long table that had presents all over it and a small podium that had the guest book resting on it.

"Do I need to sign?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded, "I think so."

Jay walked over to the table and grabbed the pen scribbling _Jay Hogart_ on the part that said guests, his name right under _Dan Raditch_.

"Scary…" Jay said, gesturing to the old Degrassi principal's name.

Emma rolled her eyes and let out a laugh before taking then pen from his hand and turning the page to the _Bridal/Groom Party_ page and writing her name under Lucy's in the part labeled _Bridesmaids._

"So is this party all night?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded, "Til one in the morning, I think."

"Damn, what are people supposed to do until then?" Jay asked with a laugh.

"Dance, eat, talk, open gifts, we can swim…" she said the ending part in a sing-song voice.

"Swim?" Jay asked with a laugh.

"Hotel has an indoor pool…" Emma said, "And my mom brought my bathing suit with her, figuring I'd need some entertainment or something…I know Craig and Ashley were planning on swimming, and I told Manny about it. Do you have a suit?"

"No, but I cam head home and grab my trunks or something."

"That'll work."

Jay nodded, "Okay, then I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, see you." Emma said and watched as Jay turned and headed out of the room.

"Emma, come over here. We wanted to get pictures of the bridesmaids and groomsmen." Spike called out.

Emma nodded and came over there.

"What about the best man and maid of honor?" Emma asked after noticing that her parents were standing off to the side.

Spike shook her head, "Not for this one."

Emma shrugged before standing in between Lucy and Craig and grinning to the camera.

The next photo was just of her, Lucy, and Spike and then one of Craig, Wheels, and Snake.

The next one was of the entire party of both, Caitlin and Joey stood in the middle, Spike beside Caitlin, Snake beside Joey, Lucy beside Spike, Wheels beside Snake, Emma beside Lucy and then Craig beside Wheels.

"Anymore?" Emma asked as they got done taking a picture of Craig and Emma, with Jack standing in front of Emma and Angie in front of Craig.

"We need one of you, Lucy, and me standing with Caitlin." Spike said.

"Mom, why do we need all of the combinations?" Emma asked.

"For the multiple wedding albums." Spike said with a smile before walking over towards Caitlin and Lucy and smiling.

"Come on Em." Caitlin said with a smile.

Emma sighed and walked over towards them, standing beside Lucy and putting on yet another smile.

Then they took a picture of Snake, Craig, and Wheels with Joey and then one final one of Joey, Wheels, Snake, Caitlin, Lucy, and Spike.

Emma glanced around the room and noticed that Jay was back inside the room with a small bag in his hand.

Emma smiled and broke away from the crowd and walked over towards him, "Hey, did you get your suit?"

Jay nodded in reply.

"Okay, we'll probably go in a few hours or so." Emma replied, "But right now we can just-"

"Emma, they need more pictures!" Craig hollered over towards her.

Emma tilted her head back and groaned, "I thought the photographer was done?"

"He is," Craig replied, "but now everyone else wants pictures."

Emma moaned childishly and turned to Jay, "I seriously hate weddings."

Jay laughed, "I'll catch up with you later."

Emma nodded and then walked back over to Craig before the two headed back over to the table where the rest of the party awaited them.

Jay sighed to himself as he watched her walk away.

Sure, this would be a long reception…but at least he got to spend it with her.

Jay thought to himself, _Okay, now I am starting to scare myself. What happened to me? Jay Hogart is going soft…and all for Emma Nelson._

-x-

**I personally think I did a really bad job on this chapter (and I think it's my longest one!), but I dunno.**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**P.S. Next Chapter…you don't wanna miss it! I'll give you a small hint of what is to come…its four letters and it starts with a K and ends with an S!**


	13. Happy New Year!

**AN: Aloha everyone! I just watched the first two episodes of Degrassi Junior High…wow…it was actually a lot like Degrassi is now, the first episode was about running for President (like Ashley and JT in Family Politics) and the second one was about getting drunk before a dance (like Terri in Eye of the Beholder). Plus all the adult characters—well some- from now were in it, Joey (he reminds me a lot of JT back then), Lucy (she looks a lot different now, her voice definitely deepened and her hair used to be insanely poofy), Wheels (looks different but they don't show him much on DTNG anyway), Caitlin (they showed her in both episodes, she had brown hair and barely talked), Snake (ran for president in the first episode and all they really showed of him was when he was on the school steps playing guitar-back then Joey and Wheels were best friends and Snake wasn't…but I dunno, they might be later on in the episodes), and Spike (she didn't talk at all! But you definitely knew it was her, they simply showed her walking around in the background, but it was her).**

**But yeah, it's a pretty good show, but DTNG is better! **

**Anyways, now that I've said that, here are some shout outs:**

**-**

**ScaryChick: **I was thinking about having Jay get jealous of Craig but I decided against it, since Craig's with Ashley and all…lol. Thanks for the review!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **Yeah, the last chapter was long, but so is this one! FIRE! lol…that's awesome…he-he. Thanks for the review!

**antiIRONY: **I couldn't have the wedding without Lucy and Wheels! Actually, I probably could have but they just had to be there, they were all best buds in high school! Thanks for the review!

**Lena Le2006**: I think they are perfect for each other, but that's just because I pretty much think that opposites attract so yeah, lol. Thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter!

**Knightsgurl:** Thanks! Hope you like the chapter!

**Icantstopthinkingofyou:** Guess you'll just have to wait and see…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Plastic Strawberries:** Sorry about the mistakes, sometimes when I'm writing and I get really into it, I just keep on writing and almost ignore the mistakes completely and then I miss them again in the read through afterwards, so sorry! And thanks for pointing them out to me! And sorry if it was a bit rushed!

**Dfreak: **Wouldn't we all love to tackle him in the pool (shifts away for a minute for dreamy sight), I would too! Thanks for the review!

**Allie:** I honestly have no idea, they didn't take tons and tons at my brother's wedding but they did at my cousin's wedding, it was insane! Here's more! Thanks for the review!

**Chealsea:**Glad you loved it! Thanks for the review!

**Emdee8907:** Yeah, I figured this story couldn't totally center around Emma and Jay (okay so it basically still does and I just mention other couples here and there, but I'm working on it! He-he…) so I mentioned Craig, Ashley, Manny, Spinner, Joey, Caitlin, etc, etc. Here's more and thanks for the review!

**Sethsduck17:** Bummer about your AC! I love Texas…lol. I have family that lives there in Amarillo, Dallas, and Austin so yeah; I go there a few times a year. Well sorry for leaving you hanging with the (cough, kiss, cough) scene…well hope ya like it! Thanks for the review.

**PhantomPunkEvo:** Well…it might not be in the pool but…lol. Thanks for the review! Hope you had fun in Colorado!

**ShimmeringEvil: **I love Jack too! He-he. Thanks for the review, hope you like the chapter!

**KoolAidSmiley:** Thanks!

**Ericaw1992: **Well here's the next chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Ocisforme:** I was going to make it happen in Chapter 11 but I was like, "Nah, I'll wait…" lol…thanks for the review! By the way, who's your favorite character on The OC? Mine are Seth and Summer XD!

**Linzer-B:** If you dreamed about Degrassi after reading my chapter, hope it was a cool dream! He-he, thanks for the review and hope you like this chapter!

**Saraofthedead: **Hmm…let's see K—S…k-I-D-s…no that's not it…k-I-N-s…nope…k-I-S-s…hmm…could be! He-he, thanks for the review!

**And big hugs to everyone else: **Roxanne76, NoOneReallyKnows, Ashley, pinkshadow89, fluffymellow, Mickey Mouse Gloves, katfishh, chunkymonkey010, degrassicouples93, aprildaisy, XxAnGeL02xX, queenie12, thengrl13, be11011, caramelswirl11, PrudencePiperHalliwell, Vlad (sorry, I would do the cross thing on your name but I don't know if it would work!), BarelyAlive, and Bridget N...**you guys rock!**

**-**

**So here is the long awaited Chapter 13 (not sure if it was really long awaited but you get my drift) and I hope you guys like it!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 13**

**-x-**

"Cannonball!" Craig exclaimed, jumping into the pool, water splashing all around.

"Are you even gonna get in?" Manny asked, looking over at Emma, who was sitting on the ground with her feet dangling in the water.

Emma shrugged, "I don't really want to get my hair wet…"

"Since when did you care about stuff like getting your hair wet?" Manny asked, "The reception is pretty much over, now people are just eating, and talking, and dancing, and laughing, and getting drunk. You can just change into the clothes you came to the wedding in after we're done, no problem."

Emma rolled her eyes and gave another shrug.

Jay looked up at her from where he was in the water, "Okay, you made me go home and get my trunks and you're not even going to get in?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know."

Jay rolled his eyes and dove under the water, swimming until he found her feet and where they were dangling; he began to tug on them.

"Jay!" Emma exclaimed.

"This could be hard or easy, Nelson." Jay stated, "I could either pull you in thus the chance of you getting hurt, or you could quit being such a baby and just get in the water."

Emma began to rub her lips together, not giving an answer.

"Will you just get in?" Jay asked.

Emma didn't answer.

"Okay, that's it." Jay said and leaned his arms on the siding of the pool, jumping up to the surface.

Emma shot up and began to back away, "You wouldn't dare."

"Yes I would." Jay said and began to walk towards her.

Emma continued to back away before turning around and running.

"Hey, no running in the pool area!" Craig hollered, nobody listened.

Ashley simply rolled her eyes and laughed, pulling Craig towards her into a kiss.

Jay caught up with Emma and grabbed her around the waist, swinging her.

"Jay, put me down!" she exclaimed.

"Fine, fine. Have it your way." He said and tossed her into the air, throwing her into the pool.

Emma screamed as her body fell into the water. Her back stung badly.

She tilted her head up only to see Jay, Manny, Spinner, Ashley, and Craig all laughing at her.

Emma squinted her eyes at Jay rudely, "I hate you."

Jay's eyes widened, "Well I love you too, Green Peace." He said before swimming towards her and dunking her head under the water.

-x-

The group spent the next few hours goofing around in the pool, eventually, Manny, Spinner, Craig, and Ashley got up and left the pool, heading back to the reception, leaving Jay and Emma alone.

"I still can't believe you threw me in the pool." Emma said.

Jay rolled his eyes, "Let it go, Emma."

Emma began to make her way towards the stairs that led out of the pool, shivering the entire way up the three steps.

Jay finally got a good look at her swimsuit: a tankini top with hot pink, olive green and sky blue swirls all over it along with a pair of matching boy short bottoms.

"Are you getting out for good?" Jay asked, making his way over towards where she was, and jumping up onto the surface.

Emma sat down in one of the white lounge chairs and shrugged, draping a towel over her shoulders.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asked.

Jay looked up at the large wall clock on one of the walls, it read _10:01_.

"Around ten." He responded.

"Wow, we've been in the pool for like five hours!" Emma said, "I probably look like a prune by now."

_A very cute prune at that…_Jay thought to himself, _if that wasn't the corniest ass thing I've ever heard go through my mind._

"No different than the rest of us." He replied.

Emma sighed before standing up and grabbing the white beach bag propped beside her chair, "I'm going to go change." She said before swinging it over her shoulder and walking outside of the pool room.

Jay grabbed his tee shirt, jeans and black skater shoes that he had changed into when he got home to get his swim trunks and walked out of the room as well.

-x-

"Did you have a good time?" Spike asked as Emma sat down at the table with the rest of the bridal party, "Your fingers are pretty wrinkly."

Emma nodded, "Yeah it was fun." She replied.

She turned around to glance around at the slowly fading party and noticed Jay walking into the room.

Emma told her mom and Snake that she was going to head over to where Jay was and then walked over there.

"Many wrinkles?" she asked.

Jay nodded and held out his hand, to show his warped fingers, "And it's _not_ going away." He said sharply.

Emma laughed, "Same here."

"Looks like Jack got himself a girlfriend." Jay said.

Emma turned to where her brother was and saw him dancing around to a song by The Beach Boys called _Fun, Fun, Fun_ with a young girl probably his age, Emma was guessing she was a Cooper.

Emma let out a laugh, "Yeah, I guess so…"

Just then the song ended and a song that Jay liked came on, he turned to Emma, "Do you…want to dance…maybe?"

Emma smirked up at him and nodded, "I'd love to. I love this song."

"Yeah…me too." He said before offering his hand to her.

She was a bit shaky at first but she simply placed her hand in his and let him lead her towards the floor.

Out of all the people she had shared dances with tonight: Joey, Snake, Craig, Jack, Spinner, Wheels, and a few others…this was the first dance that she would be sharing with Jay.

He just barely placed his hands on her waist and she lightly touched her arms to his shoulders, regardless to the fact that they were small touches, it made each of them have chills shooting up and down their spines.

As the music played on, it seemed as if it wasa very awkward moment for both of them, as if maybe this dance wasn't meant to be, even though both knew that they wanted it.

Emma slowly let her arms fall onto his shoulders more, before wrapping around his neck while Jay's arms made the rest of their way around her waist and brought her closer.

She looked up into his eyes and could just feel her face getting closer and closer to his…

Emma's pulse began to quicken, _oh my God…this is it! It's really going to happen…we're finally going to kiss…no interruptions or anything._

Jay could feel their lips only inches apart, _wow…it's really finally happening…I'm going to kiss Emma. Right now, I couldn't actually care less what Alex thinks; this is finally the moment…_

It was happening now; their lips weren't even an inch apart.

Almost touching…almost…

"Emma, could you come over here for a minute please?" Spike called out.

Emma broke away from Jay and glanced over at her mom, "Yeah sure…" she said, she glanced apologetically at Jay before breaking away completely and walking towards her mom.

_Mom,_ Emma thought bitterly to herself, _I HATE YOU!_

-x-

Jay groaned; that kiss was so close, so close!

He sighed and began to listen to the lyrics of the song, this was the second time in the same dayhe was mentally slapping himself for not kissing her sooner.

_I am everything you want_

_I am everything you need_

_I am everything inside of you_

_That you wish you could be_

_I say all the right things_

_At exactly the right time_

_But I mean nothing to you _

_And I don't know why…_

_Why_

_I don't know why…_

-x-

For the next hour and a half, Emma pretty much avoided Jay, the tension would be unbearable.

She stayed close by Manny, since Spinner had left, and the two just hung around, drinking the last of the punch, eating the last of the cake, the last of the cookies, the last of the chips, and taking the last of the pictures left on the disposable cameras at each table.

Manny leaned her cheek close by Emma's and held out the camera with her arm so it was directly facing them.

"Say cheese…" Manny said before grinning and pressing the button on the camera, the flash going into their eyes.

"How many are left on the camera?" Emma asked.

"One more…" Manny said, "We used up an entire camera, wow…we _are _bored." She said with a laugh.

It was true, even though a few of the cameras still had a few pictures left on them (which they had used up taking pictures of Caitlin and Joey and such), one camera had not been used at all so the girls took it to liberty to take pictures of themselves and random things and people at the party.

Emma was pretty sure Manny had snapped one of Jay from when he was bouncing balloons with Jack.

Manny glanced up at the clock which read _11:59_ and the red tick mark was at forty seconds til midnight.

"Okay," Manny said, "Since I absolutely have nobody to kiss…damn it Spinner…go find a partner."

Emma sighed and glanced around, spotting Jay.

_It's worth a shot…_

_**Are you out of your mind?**_

_You are her mind ding-bing._

_**Shut up, so are you…it's not the best idea.**_

_Why not? They almost kissed before…more than once even!_

_**He has a girlfriend.**_

_He had a girlfriend last year and they kissed then too._

_**Yeah, well that kiss was a mistake.**_

_I don't think so._

_**Whatever…I still don't think this is a good idea.**_

_Who seriously cares?_

Emma rolled her eyes at her constantly arguing mind before making it up and walking towards Jay.

Jay glanced up at her, "Yeah?"

Emma looked over at the clock, five seconds left…

"FIVE, FOUR…" the room began to chant.

Emma's pulse began to quicken as Jay glanced at her confusingly.

"…THREE…TWO…"

Emma looped her arms around Jay's neck and pulled his face towards hers.

"…ONE…HAPPY NEW YEARS!"

And just then his lips pressed against hers.

People were clapping and screaming, blowing horns, but neither heard anything but their own fireworks exploding deep inside of them.

Jay's arms snaked around her waist, pressing her closer to him.

_Emma's got some guts…_Jay thought to himself as she started to run her fingers through his locks of hair, knocking his hat off of his head.

_Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my God…_Emma thought to herself as she could feel one of Jay's hands creeping up her back as she just barely could feel his tongue beginning to press against her closed lips.

She was just about to open hers in response when she heard a click and even with her eyes closed, she saw a flash.

The two broke away and glanced over at Manny who was holding her camera and grinning.

"Manny!" Emma exclaimed.

"What? Just capturing the moment, Em." Manny replied.

Emma rolled her eyes before turning to Jay who was bending down, placing his hat back onto his head.

"You kissed Jay!" Manny exclaimed.

"I'm aware of that, Manny." Emma replied.

"Well how was it? Hard, soft, passionate, tongue?"

"It didn't even last a minute."

Manny rolled her eyes, "Whatever. At least you've got some gumption."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you just walked over to Jay and grabbed him and kissed, not everybody can do that, you know." Manny said.

Emma let out a soft laugh before glancing over at Jay who was now walking back over to one of the tables and taking a drink out of a Pepsi bottle that she was guessing he got out of the machine since it was full and the one he had bought at the gas station had already been drank out of.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Emma said.

Manny grinned, "I know. But hey, do you think it's okay if I stay at your place tonight?"

"Sure, that'd be fine, Manny. We were actually about to head home anyway." A voice said from behind her.

Manny and Emma spun around and saw Spike and Snake standing behind the girls.

"Okay, I'll just meet you in the car, Em." Manny said before turning and walking out of the room, closely followed my Snake.

"So," Spike said, walking closer to Emma, "I noticed that kiss with Jay Hogart…"

Emma bit her lip, "Yeah, well…New Years Eve, spur thing…you know."

Spike laughed and nodded, "Well are you getting a ride home with us?"

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. I'll go tell Jay."

Spike nodded and began to head towards the door, "Just be sure to get Jack while you're at it." She said before walking off.

Emma spun around and saw Jack waddling his way over towards Jay.

-x-

"Hey Jack." Jay said, looking down at the young boy.

"Hi Jay." Jack said with a baby smile on his face.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked.

"Are you and Emmy gonna get wedding like Uncle Joey and Aunt Caitlin?" he asked.

Jay glanced at him confusingly, "Gonna get wedding?"

"You know, with a big white dress…"

"Oh you mean get married…" Jay said.

Jack nodded.

"Why would you think that?"

"I saw you guys kissing…mommy says that that's what married people do…I was with Molly Cooper a lot tonight, and we said that we'd get married…"

Jay let out a laugh, "Well, Emma and I are-"

Jay got interrupted by Emma walking up to the two and scooping Jack up into her arms, "Hey Jay, I'm going to get a ride home with my parents, okay?"

Jay nodded, "Okay…"

"So I'll see you on Monday, first day back at school…"

"Whoopee." He remarked unenthusiastically.

Emma rolled her eyes before smiling at Jay, feeling a blush creep up to her cheeks, "Bye Jay."

"See you later, Emma."

"Bye Jay!" Jack exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

"I'll see you around Jack Man."

Emma smiled before walking off towards the exit of the room.

Jay watched her leave before turning around, gathering his stuff, and leaving as well.

-x-

"You guys do make a cute couple, you know." Manny said as they walked back into her bedroom.

Emma shrugged, "I'm kind of embarrassed that I did that."

"Why?" Manny asked.

"Because I just grabbed him and _kissed_ him!" Emma exclaimed.

Manny shrugged, "So? You guys were close to kissing earlier tonight anyway."

_And this morning…_Emma thought to herself.

Emma shrugged, "He has a girlfriend."

"Apparently he didn't think much of that when he was making out with you in the middle of the dance floor."

"We weren't making out, Manny."

"It looked somewhat intense to me."

"It wasn't intense, and it wasn't making out. There wasn't even tongue; it was just a simple kiss."

_There was almost tongue…you guys were this close to tongue!_

**_Shove it and let us talk!_**

Manny shrugged, "Still…"

Emma rolled her eyes and walked over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of pajama pants and a tank top.

"I'm going to go change." Manny said, grabbing her bag that Emma's parents had let her pick up from home on their way back to their house.

Emma removed her clothes and slid on the pair of green pajama pants with Happy Bunny all over them with random sayings and a white tank top.

She brushed her hair before pulling it into a ponytail.

Manny walked back into her room in a pair of pink pajama pants with white stars on them and a white tank top with hot pink stars on them and a pair of fuzzy white slippers.

"I'm so beat." Manny said, flipping off the light switch, "You tired?"

Emma shrugged, "A little."

Manny kicked off her slippers and climbed into Emma's bed, draping the covers over her, "Night."

"Night." Emma replied before walking towards the computer and flipping it on, seeing if anybody was online…JT, Liberty, Kendra, Chester, Spinner-she wasn't sure why she had his address, but Manny had given it to her.

"Manny, Spinner's on." Emma said.

Like a flash, Manny jumped out of bed and ran towards the computer.

Emma laughed and got up from the chair, letting Manny sit down, within seconds her fingers were typing away.

She crawled into her bed and let her head rest against the pillows, thinking about everything that happened today.

_I can't believe I actually kissed him…_

_**Lay off, will ya?**_

_You were against it!_

_**So, I did it so why does it matter? It felt good and you know it.**_

_Never said it didn't, I'm just embarrassed, what about Alex?_

_**It doesn't matter about Alex! Now will you shut up so I can go to sleep?**_

_Fine…fine…_

Emma sighed before closing her eyes, and drifting to sleep.

-x-

**There you go, they kissed (sorry if it was disappointing!)!**

**Hope you liked it…**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**P.S. The song (well ending lyrics of it at least) was _Everything You Want_ by Vertical Horizon.**

**Stay tuned for next chapter, what happens when they return back to school? Guess you'll just have to wait and see…**

**By the way, I noticed that I have 300 reviews on this story right now…that is absolutely amazing, thanks so much you guys! XD**


	14. When Jealousy Strikes

**AN: Hey everyone…wow, all of your reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you guys are awesome! Thanks a million! XD! **

**So here are some shout outs:**

**-**

**ScaryChick: **Well, I can already tell you she doesn't say it wasa mistake, but what she _does_ say, she slightly regrets (I've said too much, but there's a spoiler!). Thanks for the review!

**Queenie12: **Thanks!

**Roxanne76:** No, I haven't seen any of the Degrassi High episodes yet, just the Jr. High and only the first disc of Season One…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Plastic Strawberries:** I rented it off of Blockbuster Online. Thanks for the review!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **Ok, Ok, Ok! Lol…thanks for the review!

**antiIRONY:** Thank you!

**PhantomPunkEvo:** Yeah, I could see her getting pissed off too, but will she? Just wait and read! Thanks for the review!

**Emdee8907:** Oh thank you! That was such a sweet review! It made me feel all tingly inside, lol…thank you! I'm such a dork…lol.

**Dfreak: **Emma is totally lucky! I'm not sure if I would want to get gonorrhea from Jay, but I would so love to kiss him! He-he…thanks for the review and thanks for congratulating me!

**XxAnGeL02xX: **Soon enough? Lol…thank you for the review! XD!

**Saraofthedead:** That's not lame, I do that to stories too so don't feel lame…we all do it! (Okay maybe not all, but I know a lot of people that do!) Thanks for calling me awesome and thanks for the review!

**ShimmeringEvil: **Thank you! XD!

**Allie:** Glad you like the mind arguing, I actually have real arguments with my mind like that so yeah…lol I know, so dorky. Thanks for the review!

**Anigen: **_"This is so boss." _OMG I love that line! I've never heard it before but it is awesome! He-he…thanks for the review!

**Thengrl13:** Thanks for congratulating me! Thanks for the review!

**Miss Elisa Tenant:** I love that song too! Vertical Horizon is awesome…thanks for the review!

**Sethsduck17:** You're welcome! Lol…I never actually thought about it for Jemma either but I was typing and listening to it on my headphones and I was like "Hmm…this could fit in my story at the kissing scene!" but then it didn't turn out to be the kissing scene but yeah. If that picture was real, I would love to have it too! I'm not sure if I'll have them fight; my last fight scene that I wrote sucked…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Yalissa: **Thanks!

**LilMondlerLover: **Summer and Seth definitely belong together, lol. I might write a OC fan fic…I started one but I didn't do much with it, just had Anna come back and Seth liked Summer (when she was still with Zach) and Anna said that she'd help Seth get her and then they wound up falling all over each other again so yeah…but I might have to write one! Thanks for the review!

**Idontknowanything: **Aw, that review made me feel good! He-he, thanks for the review!

**A Sinner Has A Prayer: **Thank you! XD!

**And to all you other amazing reviewers: **chealsea, CassieSteele, Courtney, knightsgurl, slyswn28, Lena Le2006, CHA CHA CHARMEN, aprildaisy, GirlGoneCrazy, newportbabe44, BarelyAlive, and jessi—**I love you all so much! You guys rock!**

**-**

**Thank you so much everyone and I hope you like Chapter 14!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 14**

**-x-**

Emma walked down the hallways of Degrassi the following Monday morning, not a single person in the school looked happy to be there.

"Hey Emma." A voice said from behind her.

She spun around and saw JT and Liberty.

"Oh…hey JT, Liberty…how was your vacation?" she asked.

"Mine was good, yours?" Liberty asked.

Emma shrugged, "Pretty good, went to Joey and Caitlin's wedding…" Emma said.

"Anyb-I mean any_thing_ fancy there?" JT asked.

Emma rolled her eyes, "I doubt Joey got Fancy."

"Who's Fancy?" Liberty asked, completely out of it.

"Never mind." Both answered in unison as the three began to walk down the hallway together.

"Those two are just disgusting, I mean I really don't mind Jay but that's just…way too much PDA." Liberty said.

"What are you talking about?" Emma asked, suddenly becoming interested in what Liberty was saying at the sound of the name 'Jay'.

"I think she's talking about that." JT said, pointing.

Emma followed his finger towards Alex and Jay who were standing very close to one another with their arms wrapped around each other…making out.

Emma could feel her pulse rising at the look of them and she could feel her cheeks burning with both anger and jealousy.

_That should be me up there._

_**You're right.**_

Emma glanced around before she noticed Chester walking down the hallway, somewhat close by where Alex and Jay were.

_Oh my God, don't do it._

_**We've been over this before, don't even think about it.**_

_Too late for that!_

Emma glanced back and forth between Chester and Alex and Jay.

Chester was her neighbor, neighbors did other neighbors favors…or they could at least.

"What's with that look on Emma's face?" Liberty asked JT confusingly.

JT shrugged.

Emma felt her legs beginning to move towards Chester.

Chester glanced up at the blonde and smiled, "Oh, hey Emma what's-"

He got cut short when Emma slammed him against a locker, pressing her lips up against his.

"Oh my God…" Liberty said, watching the two.

"Where's my camera?" JT exclaimed, digging through his messenger bag, only to get a slug from Liberty.

Jay and Alex broke away from their kiss at the sound of the commotion going on in the hallway.

"Go Nature Freak." Alex laughed.

Jay had no idea what Alex was talking about, but he was almost positive that 'Nature Freak' was referring to Emma.

Jay glanced over towards where Alex was looking and almost felt his heart stop beating at the site of Chester slammed against a locker with Emma arms on either side of him and his hands holding onto her arms with their lips pressed against one another.

Emma broke away and removed her arms.

Chester stared at her wide eyed, "Whoa, Emma. I had no idea you felt that way…" he said with a small smirk.

Emma gulped and backed away.

_Good job…_

_**We told you not to do it…**_

"I'm uh…I'm r-really sorry Chester." Emma said before turning and running off down the hallway.

"Well, she's not always innocent apparently." Alex said with a laugh, "I gotta go." She said and gave a quick kiss to Jay before walking off down the hallway.

Jay didn't move, he stayed standing as everybody that was crowded around the hallway slowly disappeared.

-x-

Emma ran into the girl's washroom and made sure nobody else was in there before leaning against one of the walls and crying.

"Why did I do that? I'm so stupid…" she cried.

She had no feelings for Chester; that was for sure, he was just a friend…and a next door neighbor…and the only person that was walking down the hallway at that time that she: A. Recognized and B. Knew wasn't already dating someone else.

"Why did I kiss him!" she exclaimed aloud.

She didn't even know why she bothered asking that, she already knew the answer; she hated the fact that Jay was kissing Alex, even though she was his girlfriend, she hated that the girl he was kissing wasn't her, she figured it would possibly cover even for a second all the feelings that she had for Jay, she wanted to make him jealous and she thought it would make him stop kissing Alex.

Just then the washroom door swung open, "Em?" Manny's familiar voice questioned.

Emma looked up at her best friend with her teary eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked, walking over towards her.

Emma shook her head, "No…I'm not okay."

"I heard about your kiss with Chester…"

"How? You weren't in the hallway when it happened…"

"Two letters." Manny said.

"JT." They both said in unison.

Manny nodded, "He and Liberty were talking about it and I know that he mentioned that first you guys saw Jay and Alex making out so I'm guessing that that had something to do with it."

"Why would you guess that?" Emma asked.

"It's obvious that you like Jay, Em." Manny said, "I mean, you just slammed Chester against a locker and _kissed_ him…that took guts."

"It's not the first time that I've done that, Manny."

"Trust me, I know." Manny said, thinking back to tenth grade, just then a thought came to her mind, "Wait a second…last time you kissed someone like that, it was in front of Jay and Alex too! You really do like him!"

"What?" Emma asked dumbly.

"Don't even try it Emma Lorraine Nelson, you like Jay Hogart! It's so insanely and completely obvious!"

"Could you keep it down?" Emma asked.

Manny smirked, "You do, don't you?"

Emma shook her head, "No…"

"Which is why you kissed him at New Years too, right? Because you 'don't like him'?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "He was the first person that I saw, okay?"

Manny rolled her dark eyes right back at her, "You can say whatever you want, but I know it's true. Why else would you put up with him?"

"Because I'm his tutor, it's practically my _job_ to put up with him."

Manny rolled her eyes once again as the bell rung, "We better get going, class is about to start." She said before turning and walking out of the bathroom.

_Well now that Manny knows about your little secret._

Emma sighed and followed after her.

-x-

Emma walked home after school that day, snowflakes falling all around her.

She still regretted the fact that she kissed Chester, and she was seriously embarrassed about it.

As soon as she made it to her main walk, she glanced over towards Chester's porch, only to see him and his brothers all getting out of his mom's car.

He turned over towards Emma and smiled slightly, "Hey, Emma."

Emma waved back, "Hi Chester…could I talk to you for a sec?"

Chester nodded and ignored the comments about 'Hey Chester, your girlfriend wants to talk…' that his brothers were giving him and jogged over towards her, "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about this morning…"

"Oh?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah…see…I don't really…uh…I don't really actually have…feelings for you like that."

Chester let out a small laugh, "I kind of figured that out when you apologized and took off running down the hallway."

Emma laughed slightly, "Sorry about that."

Chester shrugged, "Its okay…I kind of have a crush on someone else anyway."

"Who?"

"Darcy…" Chester said.

"Darcy Douglass? The tenth grader?"

He nodded, "She's really nice…and cute."

Emma laughed, "Good to know, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry…I hope you didn't get really, really embarrassed or anything by that…"

Chester laughed, "Who gets embarrassed by a kiss?"

Emma shrugged.

"Chester! Phone call!" his mom called out their front door.

"Well I better get going…I'll see you tomorrow Emma."

Emma nodded, "Okay…bye Chester." Emma said and watched as he jogged off through the snowy grass, she noticed he began to go a little big faster once he hit the driveway.

She glanced over towards the driveway and saw a red Civic pulling in.

She sucked in a deep breath and watched as he got out of the car and walked towards her.

"So…you looked pretty cozy just a bit ago with your boyfriend, just like you did this morning when you two were kissing." Jay noted.

Emma shook her head, "It wasn't-"

"Doesn't matter, let's just get in there and get to tutoring." Jay said and nudged against her shoulder, walking off towards the house.

Emma titled her head back and let out a small groan of frustration before following Jay into the house.

-x-

The two hours that they had spent in Emma's house so far were absolutely full of tension.

Emma would ask questions; Jay would reply with short one lines like, "Yes" "No" "America" "Toronto" "57" and so on.

_Okay, I can't take this anymore_.

_**Good me neither…**_

"How come you were kissing Alex?" Emma suddenly asked.

Jay glanced at her confusingly, "She's my girlfriend…"

_But you kissed me!_

_**You don't really love her!**_

"Well, yeah but…" Emma drifted.

"Is this about what happened at New Years?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "No, not really…it's just that uh…I didn't think that you would still be with Alex. I mean, you know, after telling me that you don't love her and all…"

"Well I haven't broken up with her or anything, she's still my girlfriend."

_Well dump her ass!_

_**Here, here!**_

"You're unbelievable." Emma murmured, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What do you mean by that?" Jay asked.

"I mean, you don't really love her, so why are you dating her? Good sex every now and then? I mean hey, you've done stuff like that before, last year for example."

"Shut up about that Emma! It's none of your God damn business why I'm dating Alex!" Jay yelled.

Emma got off the couch and backed away, even though they would occasionally argue about stupid things, he had never yelled at her.

"It's not like I can actually have the girl that I want anyway!" he continued to yell.

"Yes you can!" Emma yelled right back.

"How would you know!" Jay asked, getting up from the couch and walking towards her.

Emma could feel tears starting to form in her eyes, "Because I want you too!"

Jay's eyes widened at the sound of that, she wanted him? She actually _liked_ him?

That was a shocker.

"I…" Jay said, almost at a loss of words. He simply thought of the only logical thing he could do at them moment, "I gotta go."

He backed away from her, grabbing his bag off of the floor and swinging it over his shoulder before walking out of the living room and out the front door.

Emma listened as his car started and slowly backed out of the driveway before she leaned her back against the wall and sunk to the floor, beginning to cry.

_Maybe I shouldn't have said that._

_**He does like me though.**_

_I don't know that._

_**I could tell from the kiss at New Years.**_

_Well he was kissing Alex today._

_**She's his girlfriend.**_

_Now you're starting to act like Jay, "She's my girlfriend" blah-blah, who cares? _

_**I just think he likes me, I mean…**_

_He left as soon as I said that, what does that prove?_

_**That he's dumbfounded, obviously.**_

_I spilled my heart out to him and what I get is a "I gotta go…" what kind of crap is that!_

_**Maybe I wasn't the one he wanted.**_

_Who else has he ever even shown any interest in?_

_**Uh…**_

_Exactly, he likes me, it's obvious._

_**But he never said that.**_

_He didn't have to, he said "The girl I want" and then did you see the look on his face once I said "I want you too"? _

_**That doesn't matter anymore, Jay hates me now.**_

_But I love him…_

-x-

_She likes me…Emma "Green Peace" Nelson likes me…_

Jay knew that she had almost read his mind, she was the girl that he wanted, but he couldn't have her, even though people at school were okay with her being his tutor, it would be absolute insanity if people found out they were dating.

But now he knew that she liked him probably just as much as he liked her, and he couldn't change that.

He knew what he had to do.

He had to break up with Alex.

**-x-**

**Feelings have been revealed! Ha-ha!**

**Okay, so there was Chapter 14 and I hope you guys liked it!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**Next chapter: What happens when Jay gets to Alex's house? Just wait and read!**


	15. The Truth

**AN: Oh my God, after reading all of your reviews, I was seriously tearing up! You guys are so sweet and thank you so much! XD! Here's some shout outs:**

**-**

**Chealsea: **Thanks!

**xcrazibabii69x:** Don't worry, Jay and Alex won't last for long! Thanks!

**Knightsgurl:** Cookie? Oatmeal and chocolate chip please! Haha, just kidding! Thanks for the review!

**Icantstopthinkingofyou: **No, it's not weird…weird (in an insanely awesome way) that it's one of _my_ stories, yes, but no, not weird. Thanks!

**Thengrl13:** You'll just have to read and find out…lol. Thanks!

**Melissa:** Thanks for saying that they could make it into an episode, that's really awesome! Muchas gracias!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **I made you tear up? I hope they were tears of joy…actually that was kind of a sad scene but oh well! Thanks!

**Queenie12:** (Slaps hand over mouth trying to answer the Alex cheating prediction but not trying to let anyone know whether she is or isn't) Thanks!

**antiIRONY: **I'm excellent? Aww…lol thanks! Glad you like the story!

**Allie:** Yes, it came out! Haha…here's more, sorry if it's a bit crappy, I had a bit of a block on this chapter but I hope it's not too bad! Thanks!

**Saraofthedead:** I get like that when reading stories too, cry when characters are crying and such. I seriously hope you don't combust! Haha, thanks for the review!

**Alaskajenna: **Yeah, I like Alex too (also not in _that_ way), I think she's one of the prettiest girls on the cast actually and she and Jay make a really cute couple but for some reason I've always been an Emma/Jay shipper way back since the episode _Gangsta, Gangsta _when they all first met and such. (Plus Jay is a total hottie which is always a plus!) Thanks!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell:** Big thanks! XD!

**Sethsduck17:** Aww, that was so sweet! (One of my tearing up reviews, thank you!) That's so awesome that you want to print off my story for a favorite fan fiction book, that's awesome! A Degrassi story taking over someone's life…hmm…I could see it happening! Haha, jk…thank you!

**Dfreak:** Yep, Chester's a cutie! XD! I'd pick Jay too, lol. Thanks!

**WildCat Firecracker: **Thank you for calling me a terrific writer! Thank you so, so much for that long and sappy review! (It made me get sappy…lol)

**TheOCisFORme: **Yeah, lol…I looked at the name LilMondlerLover and I was like, oh this is probably Ocisforme's real screen name (since you answered the OC question) but, lol…thanks for clearing that up and thanks for the review!

**OneTreeHillGirl:** I hope he tells her soon too! Tension is always good…lol. Thanks!

**Britt: **Yeah, I agree that that's pretty weird that Manny is okay with Emma liking Jay but Emma's put up with Manny and all of her guys so it's the least she could do, nah jk…thanks for the review!

**Emdee8907:** Another teary review! Thanks for saying I'm talented for my age (which is…well…somewhere between 13 and 17!) Also thank you for saying that this is you favorite fan fiction, and thanks for…oh whatever, thanks for the whole review! XD!

**Ericaw1992:** Thanks!

**Teachers are backstards: **Uh…wow…that review confused me at first but I have to say thank you very much for calling me a terrific writer! (That meant a lot!) And thanks for complimenting me on my writing! Alex won't commit suicide or anything but…lol. Thank you, and sorry if you don't like the pairing! I like Crash and Cranny too!

**xXmannyXx: **No…don't die! I love Jay and Emma together too and here's the next chapter, I personally think it is slightly crappy (total advanced apologies for that!) but that's just my opinion, thank you for the review!

**Linn: **I could picture that too! (Weird look in eyes) lol, jk…thank you for the review!

**Mickey Mouse Gloves: **Drama…I love it! (Heard that on a commercial for Laguna Beach earlier, lol…) Thanks for the review!

**And to everyone else: **Lena Le2006, be11011, Sum1LikesUrStory, XxAnGeL02xX, righteye0604, yalissa, grumpybear62684, edgehead4life, Stephanie, writingismything, degrassicouples93, Vlad, and Plastic Strawberries! **You guys are all so uberly amazing and I give all of you big hugs! XD! XD! XD!**

**-**

**Thank you so insanely much everyone!**

**So here is Chapter 15…**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 15**

**-x-**

Jay decided against knocking on Alex's door since he barely ever did anyway.

He walked through the small hallway until it led into the living room and he turned and walked inside.

"Alex I think we should talk-" Jay stopped once he noticed that Alex was on the couch, but she wasn't alone.

She was there with a guy who looked to be in his twenties who had his shirt off and her wife beater was halfway off.

"Jay." She noted, pushing the guy off of her and straightening down her shirt.

"You accused me of cheating on you when it was actually you cheating on me the whole damn time?" he asked.

Alex got up and walked towards him, "Why should you care? 'I think we should talk' are break up words, Jay, is that what you came here for?"

Now it was Jay's turn to ask her the same question, "Why should _you_ care? If you were going around screwing some other guy shouldn't you have wanted to break up with me in the first place?"

"Don't turn this on me." Alex snapped.

Jay pointed his finger at the guy on the couch who was running his hands through his shaggy black hair, "Are you fucking serious? Look at that loser, how can this _not_ be turned on you?"

"Hey now…" the guy said, getting up and walking towards Jay.

Jay shoved him in the shoulders, "Not talking to you."

"Jay, why don't you just get on with it and tell me what you came here to tell me." Alex suggested dryly.

Jay shrugged and nodded, "Well I guess I can screw the part about considering being somewhat gentle about this but now, after seeing…that thing you were making out with…I'm not going to even consider being gentle. It's over, Alex."

"Great." Alex said and shoved him in the shoulders, "Now get the hell out of my house."

"What? Not gonna through him out?" Jay asked sarcastically.

"Just lay off of Tony and get the hell out! Now!" Alex yelled.

Jay had to resist the urge to spit at her feet, "My pleasure." He said and turned on his heel, stalking out of the house and slamming the door behind himself.

-x-

Emma sighed as she stepped out onto her front porch, this was going to be a horrible day to go pick up Jack.

It was freezing, it was snowing, and she didn't have a ride to a place almost a mile away.

She looked down at her attire, a faded pink ringer tee with a monkey on it, a pair of faded flare blue jeans, a white jacket and a pair of Adidas tennis shoes.

"And I couldn't live in California because…?" she asked herself, before wrapping the jacket tighter around herself and beginning to jog off down the street before stopping.

_You're seriously out of your mind._

_**We can't pick up Jack walking! **_

_Yeah, he'll freeze on the way home!_

Emma sighed and glanced around her neighborhood.

"What to do, what to do…" she murmured to herself.

She glanced over at Chester's house and saw their Jeep Cherokee in the driveway.

_He's your best bet…_

Emma started to walk up the driveway and the steps to their front porch and knocked on the door, Chester answered.

"Hey Emma…" he said with a slight smile.

"Hey Chester, listen, I have to pick up my younger brother from day care but I don't have a ride, so do you think-"

"I could give you a lift." Chester suggested.

Emma grinned, "You sure?"

Chester nodded, "Of course." He said and reached over and grabbed the car keys from their end table by the front door, he walked out to the porch, closing the door behind him and leading her towards the car.

-x-

Jay sighed as he took another swig out of his bottle of whiskey.

He was sitting in his Civic by the ravine with music blasting loudly through his speakers.

He had rarely gone to the ravine since the gonorrhea incident and now that he was there, nobody else was.

"Alex and that Tony guy can just go to hell, Towerz and Amy can go to hell, not sure what they did but they can go to keep Alex and Tony company…" Jay slurred to himself, he knew that he was making no sense; that explained why the bottle of whiskey was practically empty.

He took the final swig of the bottle before rolling down his window and tossing the bottle outside, it hit a tree branch and shards of glass came shattering down from the tree.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a can of beer.

_Always have extra…_

He popped the top and took a swig out of it.

It wasn't uncommon for Jay to be drinking, but it wasn't very common either, at least, it hadn't been since he had started to hang around Emma, but now he felt as if that were going down the drain.

Jay took another large gulp out of the beer can, and then another, and then another.

"All because of Alex and that loser." Jay muttered before taking the final gulp and tossing it out the window, it hit against the same tree as the bottle but it bounced off of it and hit his car instead before rolling off the front end of the car and into the snow.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, pounding his hand against the steering wheel, hitting the horn.

He turned his key into the ignition and began to pull out of the ravine, he knew he shouldn't be driving home, he was flat out wasted, but he didn't care.

Even if he was drunk, he could still drive. It was illegal, yes. But he still could do it without swerving which was more than he could say for his other friends.

He got to the main road and turned the wrong direction that would bring him home.

He turned the direction that would bring him to Emma Nelson's house.

-x-

"Thanks for the ride, Chester." Emma said with a soft smile, Jack bouncing on her lap, anxious to get out of the car.

"No problem, Emma. I'll see you around, Jack." He said with a slight smile to the tike.

Jack didn't respond but turned to Emma, "Where's Jay?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "I'll see you around." Emma said to Chester before getting out of the car and starting up the walk to her front steps.

"Jay's not here." Emma stated as Chester pulled out of her driveway and drove the very short distance to his own.

She walked into her house and brought Jack into the living room, sitting him on the floor and putting on a tape for him of some cartoons that he liked to watch.

She pulled off her jacket and tossed it onto the coat hook before walking into the kitchen and checking the messages on the answering machine.

The first one was from Manny: "Hey Em, it's me…just wondering if you understood a thing about this chemistry assignment, it's totally confusing! Call me back! Oh, and be expecting a call from JT…"

The next one, as Manny had predicted, was from JT: "Emma, are you just not answering your phone? You've done it before…listen, do you understand anything about this chemistry project? Eh, forget it, I'll just ask Liberty. See you tomorrow."

The final one was from her mom: "Hey Em, just wanted to tell you to order a pizza or something for dinner, I have to drive your dad to Montreal for a doctor's appointment, I'll be back late tomorrow, sorry honey! Love you."

Emma rolled her eyes and erased all three messages, she would call Manny later and she would just have to deal with being alone for twenty four hours, no big deal, it wasn't new lately.

Just then she heard a loud car horn and a car door slamming from outside.

"What the…?" Emma asked herself until she heard her front door open and shut.

Jack glanced around the living room nervously, his lower lip quivering.

Emma walked towards him and picked him up, perching him on her hip.  
She walked towards the foyer where she saw Jay Hogart leaning against her front door.

"Jay?" she asked confusingly.

"Emma…hi…" Jay said, glancing up at her.

She walked towards him confusingly, "What are you doing here?"

Just then she smelled a horrible stench, alcohol.

"Well I didn't want to go home and I'm through with Alex, to hell with her!"

"Jay, you're drunk." Emma said nervously.

Jack smiled at him happily, "Jay!"

Jay nodded at him slightly, "'Sup little man?"

Emma rolled her eyes and turned to Jack, "Jack, I think it's time for your nap."

"But I'm not tired!" Jack exclaimed sadly.

"The kid can stay." Jay stated.

Emma glanced at him roughly, "The _kid_ has a name, Jay."

Jay glanced at Jack confusingly, "…Tony?"

Emma shook her head.

"Fuck, I hate that name!" Jay exclaimed, pounding his fist against the door.

"JAY!" Emma exclaimed, glancing at Jack nervously, "Jack, you need to go lie down sweetie."

"But Emma…" he whined.

"Let's go." Emma said, walking him off towards his room while Jay simply stood in the foyer.

She placed Jack inside of his crib that was soon to become a bed and smiled at him, "I'll see you in an hour or so, kiddo."

"Will Jay still be here?" Jack asked.

Emma bit her lip, "I'm not sure."

"I hope so." Jack said before turning his back to her and wrapping up with his blanket, "I love you Emmy."

"Love you to Jacky." Emma said with a smile before flipping on his nightlight and walking out of his room, closing the door quietly behind her.

She walked back towards Jay and stared at him in disbelief, "Why are you drunk?"

"Apparently I was drinking." Jay stated dumbly.

Emma rolled her eyes at him, "You can't go around cussing like that in front of Jack, you know…"

Jay sighed, "I know…sorry Em."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I broke up with Alex, well actually…she cheated on me with some dude so then I dumped her."

Emma crossed her arms over her chest, "Well I didn't think you would come back here."

"Why?" Jay asked.

"Well because of earlier, when I said what I said and you kind of just left…I figured you wouldn't come back."

"Oh right, you said you wanted me too…that was sexy…" Jay said.

Emma rolled her eyes, "I think you should probably lie down." she said, "It's obvious that you're still definitely in your drunk faze."

"I don't need to lie down…" he slurred.

"Yeah, you do. I'm not talking to you while you're drunk." Emma said.

Jay rolled his eyes, "Fine." He said.

Emma walked behind him and began to push his back since he wasn't moving; she pushed him towards the living room and onto the couch.

Jay lifted his arms up to his head and pulled off his hat, he threw it off of his head. His sunglasses and hat bouncing on the floor.

"Do you need a blanket or anything?" Emma asked.

Jay shook his head, "Nope…"

Emma smiled slightly at him before turning to walk away.

Jay watched as she walked towards the basement door and opened it, walking down the stairs.

He smiled slightly before leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

-x-

Jay woke up about three hours later to the sounds of a sing-along.

_I love you, you love me…_

"We a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you…" Jack sang along.

Jay felt the urge to slam a pillow over his head and take about ten aspirins.

"JAY! You're up!" Jack squealed, running over to him and standing in front of the couch.

Jay sat up and picked Jack up under his arms, sitting him down beside him on the couch.

"So you're watching Barney?" Jay asked with a slight laugh.

"It's what he usually plays when he wants to get attention." Another voice spoke up.

Jay glanced over and saw Emma leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, smirking at the two.

Jay smirked slightly at her before Emma turned her gaze more towards Jack.

"Jack, can I take you back to your room? I need to have a talk with Jay…"

Jay gulped at that, _now what had he done_?

Jack sighed and turned towards Jay, "I want Jay to take me."

Emma turned towards Jay who slightly nodded.

"Alright Jack Attack, c'mere."

Jack waddled his way towards Jay and Jay scooped him up into his arms.

"You know airplane?" Jack questioned.

Jay glanced at him confusingly.

"The airplane…" Emma noted, "when you-"

"Yeah, I know what it is now." Jay said, before holding onto Jack by his stomach and turning him horizontally, holding onto him and running out of the living room.

Emma sighed with a smile as she watched the two before she sat down on the couch and glanced down at his hat sitting on the floor.

She grabbed it and placed it on her head.

_It even smells like him!_

_**Only you would notice something like how he smells.**_

_Oh put a cork in it!_

She glanced around under the beak of the hat, before turning it backwards and smirking triumphantly.

Jay walked back into the living room and glanced at Emma, "What are you wearing that for?"

"What?" Emma asked with a playfully smile, "Doesn't look good on me?"

_Good on you? It looks hot on you!_Jay thought to himself.

Jay shook his head, "Looks fine, just you know, with my lice and all."

Emma's eyes widened and she threw the hat off of her head; it hit against the television screen and bounced onto the ground.

Jay chuckled and got up to grab it before sitting down next to her and handing it to her, "I was just kidding, Nelson."

Emma let out a soft laugh, "Oh…" she said dumbly, before placing it back on her head.

Jay rolled his eyes, "You're gullible."

"Gee thanks."

"So," Jay asked, turning to glance at her, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

Emma gulped, "Uh…are you still drunk?"

Jay let out a laugh, "No…"

"Hung-over?"

"Not really."

"How can you not be hung-over?" Emma asked.

"I'm just not, now is that what you wanted to ask me?"

Emma shook her head.

"Well uh…about what I said earlier…uh…"

"The 'I want you too'?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded slightly, "Yeah…well you see…"

"What?" Jay asked, just practically wanting to grab her and kiss her right then and there.

"I only said that because…"

Jay could practically feel his heart hammering; _for God's sake Nelson just spit it out!_

Emma bit her lip nervously, about to tell him that it was because she didn't know what she was thinking and that it wasn't true.

_Oh, don't tell him that!_

_**Yeah, lying is never good.**_

_I agree, tell him the truth._

_**The whole truth…**_

_And nothing but the truth._

_**She should just grab him and kiss him.**_

_Yeah, I know!_

"Because…" Emma drifted off again, glancing at the floor.

"Because _what_?" Jay drawled anxiously.

Emma let out a soft sigh before listening to what her conscience and her heart was telling her.

Emma glanced up at Jay, her eyes meeting his, "I said that because…because it was the truth."

**-x-**

**Okay…there it was! (Ducks head for any possible throwing of tomatoes, various veggies, and pitchforks) Hope it didn't suck!**

**Cliff or if?**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	16. Playing House

**AN: Hey everyone! Wow…I'm over 400! (Does little dance) Thank you so very uberly much! So here are my shout outs:**

**-**

**knightsgurl: **I have lighters too! He-he…thanks for the review!

**Courtney: **I don't have to duck? Thank God! (Throws hand on forehead and sighs with relief…lol) Thanks for the review!

**PhantomPunkEvo:** I was thinking about having it Alex and Towerz but I decided against it. I'd love to actually own his hat, lol…thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B: **What's gonna happen between them? Wait and read! But how will everyone else react…er…don't know yet…lol…thanks for the review!

**Dfreak: **Nothing R rated… (Yet) …lol. Don't worry; they do have a (cough, moment, cough) in this chapter though! Thanks for the review!

**Sandy-Pandy: **Aww! (That review made me feel all fuzzy inside) Thanks! I might do a Craig/Emma fic…not sure yet, I have thought about doing one though so who knows! Thanks for the review! XD!

**Bridget N: **Thanks!

**Allie: **Well here's more! Thanks for the review!

**Chealsea: **I love funny drunks! Lol…I don't know if you've ever seen the show The OC but this one character on it Seth is like the _coolest _drunk ever! He's hilarious, so is this one girl that my friend and I used to baby-sit for…well her friend at least, she was a very funny drunk…taught us some…er…important stuff, but that's another story! Thanks for the review!

**Sethsduck17:** Ahh! (Ducks head for pitchfork) Okay, I won't say it sucks again! Thanks for the review! They always make me laugh…he-he.

**Thengrl13: **Yup, you'll find out soon! Thanks for the review! XD!

**Saraofthedead: **Guys definitely tend to say stupid things! But will Jay? (Play that dun-dun-dun music) Thanks for the review!

**xXmannyXx: **Don't die on me now! Here! Have a chapter; maybe it'll make you feel better! (Okay that was a dumb line…lol) Thanks for the review!

**Kris: **You block those veggies, pitchforks, and fruits…lol jk. Thanks for the reviews!

**Chelsea: **Okay, this wasn't 3 or 4 days! (I don't think…) Thanks for the compliment on the thoughts and thanks for the review!

**Yalissa: **Thank you!

**antiIRONY: **Sorry that I end them that way sometimes! (But doesn't it just make you want more…lol) Thanks for the review!

**Lena Le2006: **Thanks!

**And to everyone else: **PrudencePiperHalliwell, Plastic Strawberries, queenie12, XxAnGeL02xX, Allie, Love Sucks, Stephanie, Mickey Mouse Gloves, be11011, and Miss Elisa Tenant**…you guys rock so hard! Thank you and big hugs to everyone!**

**-**

**Anyways, here's Chapter 16 and I hope you like it!**

**R&R and please no flames! (Lighters maybe…lol)**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 16**

**-x-**

Jay gulped, remaining quiet.

Emma let out a small sight, partly of happiness for telling him, and partly for worry since he wasn't saying anything, "And I don't know if who you were talking about was really me but I know that for awhile now I have had all of these pent up emotions for you and I didn't know how else I could get rid of them so I tried to during that fight today but then you left and I figured it wasn't me that you were talking about and I felt like a total idiot but Jay I couldn't keep it quiet okay? I'm sorry but I'm falling for you so fast and I just-"

Emma was cut short when she felt Jay's lips pressed against hers.

She responded almost immediately, her lips parting slightly letting his tongue slide in to meet hers.

She practically threw her arms around his neck as she drew him closer to her, his hands wrapped around back as their tongues fought furiously.

Emma began to run her fingers through his soft locks of hair as he continued to kiss her deeply and passionately, as if two lovers who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Jay's lips left hers and began to trail to her throat, planting kisses on her neck.

Emma let out a soft sigh and was about to pull his head back up to meet hers for another kiss when…

"Emmy, Jay, are you two done talking?" Jack hollered.

Jay's lips broke away from her neck as he smirked slightly at her, "Have been for about five minutes now..." He said quietly, making her blush.

"Want to come back into the living room, Jack?" Jay asked.

"Yeah!" Jack yelled back.

Emma let out a small laugh of nervousness as Jay got up from the couch and walked off towards Jack's room.

Emma sighed and leaned against the couch, slightly placing a finger on her lips where Jay's lips had been only a few minutes before.

_Hallelujah! _

_**Hallelujah!**_

_Hallelujah, hallelujah…_

_**Hall-e-lujah! **_

_Way to go Emma Nelson!_

_**I knew we steered her in the right direction!**_

Just seconds later Jay returned to the living room with Jack in his arms.

He sat back on the couch and Jack flopped between the two, looking over at Emma, his big hazel eyes glancing over towards her neck, "Emmy…what's that?" he asked, pointing.

Emma's eyes widened, "What's what?" she asked worriedly.

"That red thing on your neck…" Jack stated.

Jay's mouth formed an O jokingly, "My, my Miss Nelson, what have you done?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emma shot back sarcastically.

Jay smirked.

"Yeah, Emma…what have you done?" Jack asked, not understanding one bit of what they were talking about.

Emma laughed and gave a slight eye roll at the two before glancing towards the television, which still had Barney on.

_Jay loves you._

_**You love Jay.**_

_You're together since today._

_**You gave each other a great big smooch.**_

_And he gave a hickey to you._

_**That sure shows he loves you too!**_

-x-

Emma's eyes fluttered open.

_When did I fall asleep?_

She noticed she was still on the couch and Jay's hat was _still _on her head.

The television was now playing some cartoon on Nickelodeon and she could hear sounds coming from the kitchen.

She heard a pan clank and a giggle that definitely sounded as if it came from Jack.

"She doesn't like pisketti, she's a vegetable."

Emma glanced around confusingly at what she heard Jack say, but she knew what he meant. She wouldn't eat spaghetti and meatballs since she was a vegetarian.

"She's a vegetable? She can't move?" Jay asked jokingly.

Emma rolled her eyes with a soft smile on her lips.

"I dunno, I think she can walk, but she won't eat meat…"

"Oh…" Jay said understandingly, "I get it…she's a vegetarian."

"Yeah!" Jack answered.

"Well you see, I knew that…that's why this is the Hogart Original Vegetarian Spaghetti complete with garlic and pepper marinara sauce, noodles, and parmesan cheese! But, your sister's sleeping and I don't want her to know about it, okay?"

"Okay…" Jack answered, slightly quieter than before.

"So do you just want me to pretend to go back to sleep?" Emma asked aloud.

"Jay…I think Emma's up…" Jack said.

Jay walked out of the kitchen and his mouth dropped open at her jokingly, she noticed he was wearing an apron that said _Kiss the Cook_, she recognized it as Snake's for whenever he would grill outside, back before cancer struck him once again.

Emma rolled her eyes and laughed at him, "Nice ensemble, Chef Hogart."

Jay grinned sarcastically, "Yeah, I thought so…especially what it says on the apron…" he wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

Emma smirked and got up from the couch, walking towards him and making sure Jack wasn't looking before giving him a very light and short kiss on the lips.

Jay smirked as the two broke away before he headed back into the kitchen.

"Well, now that the surprise is _ruined_…just grab some plates." Jay stated.

Emma rolled her eyes and walked towards the cabinets, grabbing two plates and a small plastic bowl for Jack.

"Emmy you can't be in here!" Jack exclaimed wide eyes, looking at his sister.

"And why not?" Emma asked, turning to face him.

"It's a surprise, I can't tell you!" Jack said in a shushed voice, on of his small fingers covering his lips.

Emma let out a laugh as she walked towards Jay who was using tongs to put spaghetti on their dishes.

"Let's get you in your high chair, Jack." Emma said, walking towards her brother who was sitting on the counter with his feet slightly dangling.

She scooped him up and walked him towards his high chair, sitting him down.

"I think I'm old enough for a big kid chair." Jack stated.

Emma glanced at him confusingly, "A big kid chair?"

"Like the one's you and Jay will sit in." he said, pointing to the chairs around the table.

"Jack, just wait til you're like four, okay?" Emma asked, "You could fall and get hurt."

"We could always get him a few phone books and a seat belt to strap him in with." Jay suggested.

Emma shot him a look, "Yeah, like that'll happen. My parents would freak."

"You're no fun." Jack said, glaring at Emma with a pout.

"Bummer." Emma said softly with a slight smile as she walked back towards Jay and grabbed Jack's bowl, walking it back towards him and sitting it on his tray on his high chair.

Jay brought over his and Emma's plates and sat them down at the table before sitting down along with Emma.

"You didn't have to make dinner, you know. We were just going to order a pizza." Emma stated towards him.  
Jay shrugged, "Pizza, spaghetti, both Italian."

Emma rolled her eyes and grabbed Jack's bowl and fork, cutting up his spaghetti noodles into little shreds before lifting the fork towards his mouth and spooning it into his mouth.

"I thought he knew how to handle utensils…didn't you mention something about that way back whenever we were at the hospital?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "Jack, do you think you can feed yourself?"

Jack glanced at her as if she were stupid before grabbing his fork and dipping it into the bowl and placing it in his mouth.

Emma's mouth dropped open, "Wow…"

"That a boy!" Jay exclaimed happily before receiving a slight glare from Emma.

"You don't have to feed him; you're not even his mom." Jay stated.

Emma rolled her eyes, "I might as well be, my mom's hardly ever home to raise him."

Jay shrugged before taking a bite out of his spaghetti.

Jack continued to eat his own spaghetti without any help while Emma and Jay ate in an awkward silence.

-x-

After dinner Emma picked up Jack, wiping off his face before taking off his shirt that had spaghetti on it and walking him to his room to get a clean shirt.

She returned with him now in pajamas, she sat him down in the living room and put in an educational DVD for him and walking into the kitchen to help Jay with the dishes.

"Thanks for all of this, Jay." Emma said to him as he washed the dishes and she dried them.

"No problem, it's the least I could do."

Emma glanced at him confusingly, "What?"

"Well, you know, for you tutoring me and all."

"You pay me for that."

Jay shrugged, "Do you always take kind gestures this way or is this some special occasion?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "So, why did you kiss me earlier?"

"Well I had to shut you up somehow." Jay said sarcastically.

Emma didn't respond.

"Why did you kiss back?" he asked.

Emma shrugged, "Because I just did…"

"Because you want me…" Jay said in a sing-song voice.

Emma rolled her eyes once again at him, "Yeah that must be it."

"Well you did say it was the truth after all."

Emma let out a slight laugh, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And I kissed you because you were the one I was talking about during our fight." Jay said as he finished washing the final dish and then handing it to Emma before walking out of the kitchen.

Emma's mouth dropped open before she grinned to herself and began to dry the final dish, humming _I Think I Love You_.

-x-

"Poor toddler." Jay muttered as he watched Jay watch a video in which five teenagers bounced around singing a song that went along the lines of _5, 4, 3-2-1, come with us and have some fun!_

He sat down on the couch as he watched Jack sitting Indian style on the carpet, watching the video.

"This boring you?" Jay asked him.

Jack shook his head, "I'm used to it."

"Why not just watch Sesame Street?" he asked.

Jack shrugged, "I watch that at day care."

Jay let out a soft laugh before glancing up at the clock which read _8:30_.

"Hey, what time does Jack have to go to sleep?" he called out towards the kitchen.

"My parents usually try to have him in bed by 8:45!" Emma replied.

"You want me to put him to bed?" Jay asked.

"Sure…thanks." Emma replied.

Jay turned back towards Jack, "Hey Jack Man, ready to go to bed?"

Jack nodded slightly and replied with a yawn.

Jay grabbed the remote and turned off the TV before grabbing Jack and carrying him towards his bedroom, laying him down in his crib.

"I want a big kid bed." Jack groaned as Jay lay him down.

Jay laughed, "Must suck being behind bars all the time." He said jokingly, Jack of course had no idea what he was talking about.

"My mommy usually reads me a story…" Jack said.

Jay glanced around a noticed a bookshelf full of little paperback books.

"Want me to?" Jay asked.

Jack nodded slightly.

"Can I go pick one out?"

Jack nodded again.

Jay smirked and walked towards the book shelf, glancing around at all of them.

He noticed a bright book that said _Little Critter's Day Out _and grabbed it.

He had no idea what a _Little Critter_ was but Jack had tons of the books so he was guessing that he liked them.

"Do you like these?"

Jack nodded, "I got them for Christmas."

Jay nodded slightly before opening the book to page one and beginning to read.

-x-

Emma placed the final dish in the rightful cupboard before walking out of the kitchen and flipping off the light.

She honestly felt like she were playing house with Jay making dinner and the two of them washing them together, and feeding-or at least trying to feed-Jack.

She walked towards Jack's room and noticed Jay reading a sentence in a book before closing it and saying "The End".

"Night Jack Attack." Jay murmured towards the tike whose eyes were drifting open and shut.

"Night daddy." Jack replied softly before turning his back towards Jay and closing his eyes once again, falling asleep.

-x-

**And there it is, Chapter 16!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**P.S. The educational show that Jack was watching is called _Hi5_ and I saw a commercial for it one time on the previews for the movie _Sleepover_ and it made me and my friend crack up and my friend was like "You're the reason my brother went retarded!" and stuff like that so yeah.**

**And I don't own the song _I Think I Love You _(of course) that is owned by David Cassidy or as of about two years ago, his daughter Katie (Jesse McCartney's girlfriend who was at his concert and was sitting close to my friend and I)**

**Oh yeah! And the song about Jay and Emma...well I wrote the lyrics but it's supposed to be to the tune ofthat ever-so-annoying Barney song!**


	17. Their Little Secret

**AN: Hey everyone! Thank you very, very much for all of the reviews! Here are some shout outs:**

**-**

**sethsduck17: **Jay cooking makes me drool too, lol…so does the thought of him in an apron, he-he. I felt like making Jay be all sweet and sensitive to Jack, he brings out the soft side of him apparently, lol…even though I'm not sure that's how he would fully act on the show. I was humming the Barney song while I was writing it, then it was stuck in my head for the rest of the day, lol. Thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B: **Sorry about making the song get stuck into your head! It was stuck in mine too, believe me! I hope you update your story, it's really good. So here's an update on mine! Thanks for the review!

**Plastic Strawberries: **Hey, thanks for telling me about my wrong spelling of sigh, thanks for the pointing that out! And I do agree with you on the fact that it was a bit rushed and that Jay was out of character, but I just think that Jack brings out the softer side in Jay Hogart (not sure if in the show he'll ever actually _meet _Jack but…oh well). Anyways, thanks for the review!

**Chealsea: **After reading your review once more I now have "I Think I Love You" stuck in my head, lol. _I think I love you…so what am I so afraid of? I'm afraid that I'm not sure of, a love there is no cure for…_it doesn't help much that my best friend was over and she is obsessed with that song! Ha-ha…Barney rocked my world too, that's all I watched. After I got older and reached like the age of six, my brother took all of my Barney tapes and sold them at our family garage sale; it was a sad, sad day for the life of me. Haha, thanks for the review!

**Lena Le2006: **I think Jack is adorable too, I wish they showed him more in the show though! Thanks for the review!

**xXmannyXx: **Here's MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE! Lol…thank you for saying that this is the best fan fiction you've read, that made me feel good! So here's more! Thanks for the review!

**Knightsgurl: **Yup…thanks for the review!

**antiIRONY: **Yep, it must be! I'm in love with Jay too, lol. Thanks for the review!

**Samantha Osika: **Thank you!

**Lost2Thoughts: **Thanks!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **I'm kind of freaked out at myself for making Jack call Jay daddy, lol…now all I have to do is have him start calling Snake 'Snake'…haha. I want Jesse and his beautiful soul! (Okay, that is a very corny line but my friend wrote it on a poster on our way to the concert so yeah…) Thanks for the review!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **I like playing house too, lol. My brother and sister-in-law are "vegetables" too, my brother wasn't originally but then he started dating his future wife so he became one for her…thanks for the review!

**Saraofthedead: **Yep, since Snake is gone Jay is taking over! Haha…thank you for the review!

**Dfreak: **I'm glad you like the song! I wish Emma and Jay were married; they'd have pretty babies (haha)! Thanks for the review!

**Allie: **Thanks! I thought it was a cute chapter too!

**Idontknowanything: **That review made me feel good! Hehe…I had to make Jay have a heart, so I figured who better to make it show than little Jack Nelson? Lol…thanks for the review!

**CassieSteele: **Not stopping, here's another chapter to prove it to ya! Lol…thanks for the review!

**Afamily123: **Thanks!

**Slyswn28: **That two part episode that they were together was actually my favorite just because of the fact that Emma and Jay were finally paired together, then she got all angry at him for giving her an STD…pfft (mutters Drama-Queen under breath)! Nah jk, the gonorrhea thing _was_ pretty bad. But I really hope they do finally get back together! Thanks for the review!

**PhantomPunkEvo: **I wish they made boys like Jay too…sadly at my school…they don't. The closest we get is these really cute guys named Reid and Matt and they're not really those bad boys that are oh-so-gorgeous…they're on the baseball team! (Sigh…) Thanks for the review!

**And to everyone else: **queenie12, be11011, Miss Elisa Tenant, Bridget N, yalissa, caramelswirl11, and Icantstopthinkingofyou…**mwah, mwah, mwah! Thanks a bunch, you guys rule!**

**-**

**So here's the next chapter, hope you like!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 17**

**-x-**

Emma's mouth fell slightly open at the sound of the word 'daddy' dripping from her younger brother's lips, especially since it was directed at Jay.

Jay walked out of the room, closing the door and shaking his head slightly; he passed right by Emma who was leaning against the wall right next to Jack's door in the hallway.

"In shock?" Emma asked.

Jay's shoulders that were slightly slumped jolted up as he turned to face Emma.

"Oh…didn't see you there…" he noted, running a hand through his hair…he missed his hat.

"You kind of are like his dad, you know. All he talks about is you. Even to our parents, it's always Jay this and Jay that. Seriously, I can't even escape you when you _aren't_ around."

"I'm sorry…?" he stated awkwardly.

Emma laughed slightly, "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure." Jay said as Emma began to walk past him and off towards the living room, him following close behind.

-x-

"So…since that kiss does that make us…?" Emma began as the two sat on the couch.

"A couple?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded.

Jay shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe it was just a spur of the moment thing, you know?"

"But you said that-"

"I know." Jay cut her off, "I know I said that it was because you were the one I wanted. And I wasn't lying; you are the one I want to be with."

Emma bit her lip, "So then why did you say you couldn't be with me?"

"Because, you're my tutor for God's sake!"

"So?"

"So, what would people think if we were dating?"

"Jay, what are you talking about?"

"You're Emma 'Green-Peace' Nelson. I'm Jay 'Bad-Ass' Hogart. We're like oil and water!"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Since when did you honestly care about what people think?"

"You're friends would hate you if you dated me."

"I wouldn't care Jay! I already told you, I want you too. I'm getting really mixed emotions from you right now."

"I want to date you, Emma."

"I want to date you too." Emma replied softly.

Jay sighed, "Nobody at school would agree with this, you know."

Emma smirked, "So? Who said we had to tell them?"

Jay glanced at her like she was insane, "What?"

"We can keep it our little secret."

"So we just don't talk to each other at school-"

"-but we're together after school and on weekends; kind of a secret, part-time lover thing."

Jay had a small smirk playing at his lips, "Okay, you're on."

Emma grinned, "So we have a deal?"

Jay grinned right back at her, "We have a deal."

And they sealed the deal with a kiss.

-x-

"So anyway, I think if we all donate money then we can have enough money to adopt some homeless children in Indonesia. We can buy them clothes and books and food and let them have a better life than they do." Liberty suggested as she sat at the lunch table with Manny, Emma, JT, and Toby.

Emma smirked, "And they called me _Cause-Girl_?"

Liberty glanced at her in confusion, "You don't think it's a good idea?"

Emma shook her head, "No, it's a good idea. I just didn't think that you would suggest it."

"I have cares for this planet." Liberty stated offensively.

Emma laughed slightly as the rest of the group continued to talk, she glanced over and saw Jay walking into the cafeteria, they had been doing this "secret-love" thing for almost two weeks now, it practically killed her to see him without being able to grab him and kiss him.

He glanced at her for a minute and gave a very small smirk before walking towards where Amy and Towerz were, Alex was off at a student council meeting with Marco since the two had yet again been elected president and vice-president of Degrassi.

She turned back towards her friends.

"So, Em…who are you going with to the Valentines dance?" Manny asked.

Emma glanced at her in confusion, "Valentines Dance? That's not for another month or so!"

"Five weeks." Manny replied, "But still, who are you going with?"

"Emma hasn't seen anyone this whole year." Liberty replied.

JT shrugged, "Unless you count that kisswith Chester a few weeks back."

"Shut up JT." Emma replied.

She would have loved to go to the dance with Jay, but she was pretty sure he would not go along with it, no…more like positive.

Because, one: Jay didn't do dances, and two: Nobody was allowed to know they were dating-yet.

"You could go with Toby…" Manny suggested.

Emma glanced over at Toby who shot her a small grin.

"You don't still have that freaky crush on me that you did in Grade Seven…do you?" she asked worriedly.

Toby laughed and shook his head, "No. I dated Kendra since then; it would be totally as friends if the two of us went together, Em."

Emma shrugged; she gave one more glance over at Jay before turning towards Toby, "I'll get back with you."

-x-

"Isaacs? You want to go with _Toby Isaacs?_" Jay asked in disbelief as they sat on her couch that afternoon.

"Well I didn't figure you would go and Toby is one of my oldest friends…wait, would you go?"

Jay shrugged, "That'd be putting a lot up at stake, I mean, everyone would know we were together and all."

"I personally think that you are the only one who sees that as a problem…people talk about me anyway, why should it matter what they think?"

"Do you want to go public?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know, Jay. I mean it's really hard for me to walk by you in the hall or see you at your locker or at lunch, I just want to practically _jump_ you."

Jay grinned and turned towards her, "Jump me?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean."

"Like this…?" Jay asked.

Next thing Emma knew she was pinned beneath him on the couch and his lips were pressed against hers.

She brought her hands up to his hair, knocking his head off of his head and running her fingers through his brown hair.

His lips broke away from hers and he began planting small kisses down her jaw-line and to her neck where she felt him beginning to suck.

"Jay." She whispered, pushing his head away, "You can't give me another hickey, it took me forever to explain to my friends that it _wasn't _a hickey last time, if they see another one they'll know it was."

Jay sighed and sat up, grabbing his hat from the floor and putting it on backwards and then putting on his sunglasses on the brim of his hat-on the back of his head.

"That's so weird the way you do that." Emma noted.

Jay laughed, "But you think it's sexy."

"You wish." Emma replied.

"So what time do we need to pick up Jack?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "We're not picking up Jack today."

"How come?"

"My mom and dad are going out of town to visit Snake's grandparents and they're taking Jack with them…they should actually already be outside of town."

Jay shook his head in disbelief, "How come you're parents never take you anywhere they go?"

"Because, I can't really miss much school, I'm supposed to be graduating in May with you guys."

"So they just trust you here all alone?"

Emma nodded, "I'm pretty trustworthy."

"As you get done making out with one of the school bad-boy's that your dad would _kill_ if he found out was dating his daughter."

Emma laughed, "True, but…"

"So, how long are they supposed to be gone?"

"A few days or so…"

Jay's eyebrows wiggled, "So you have the house to yourself…?"

Emma nodded, "Yes. It's called parental trust and I'll _lose_ it if you do what I know you're thinking about doing so stop thinking about doing what you're thinking about doing?"

Jay laughed, "Well that was confusing. What are you thinking that I'm thinking about doing?"

"Sleeping over." Emma replied.

Jay glanced at her in mock surprise, "You were thinking_ that_, well if somebody's head is stuck in the gutter…"

"You weren't thinking that?"

Jay shrugged as if he wasn't going to answer, "Actually yeah, I was but after that, I don't think I want to anymore."

"Now _that_ made no sense." Emma replied.

Jay rolled his eyes and glanced over at the clock which read _4:15_.

"We better get to studying." Emma stated, glancing up at the clock right along with him.

Jay let out a slight groan, "I seriously hate all of this tutoring crap."

"It's helping you graduate so quit complaining." Emma replied, "Plus, it's getting me money to graduate as well." Emma chimed in before grabbing the books off the floor and placing them on the coffee table as yet another tutoring session began.

-x-

"So Em, what do you say? Are you going to go to the dance with Toby?" Manny asked, a few days later at school.

Emma's mind flew back to her conversation with Jay and she realized that she had never really gotten an answer.

"I don't know yet."

Manny shrugged, "I personally think you should."

"Why?"

"Because, you guys are friends and he doesn't have a date and neither do you."

"You don't know that." Emma replied, glancing over at her best friend.

Manny's mouth dropped open, "You have a _date_ and you didn't tell me?"

Emma laughed, "Never said that."

"So do you or do you not have a date for this dance? I'm about to tell Toby that you said yes so you better give me an answer Miss Nelson."

Emma rolled her eyes and glanced towards the middle of the hallway from where she and Manny were standing at their lockers, she saw Jay walking down the hallway in some conversation with Ellie Nash…for some reason that put a slight burning feeling in her stomach, jealousy?

Manny saw the look of jealousy in Emma's honey brown eyes and her own chocolate eyes widened, "Oh…my…God."

Emma glanced at her confusingly, "What?"

"Oh my God! Emma you're not serious!"

"Manny what are you talking about?"

"You like Jay!" Manny exclaimed aloud…a little too loud.

People in the hallway all turned to stare at the two, Jay and Ellie included.

Emma's mouth dropped open and she glanced around at all of the students before turning back to Manny.

"Manny that's insane, how could I like someone like _Jay Hogart_?" Emma asked with a hint of mock disgust in her voice.

Jay's eyes slightly widened at the sound of that before he walked over towards them, "Please, Santos…she's my tutor; that already gives her a loser status! Plus, even if she did like me, I would _never_ think about dating someone like Green Peace, she's a total basket case."

Emma gulped, now _that_ had hurt.

"I have to go." She said, pushing Jay out of her way and stalking off down the hallway.

Manny glanced at Jay wide eyed before nudging him in the shoulder and hurrying off after Emma.

-x-

**So…what'd you think?**

**I took a bit more time with this chapter so I hope it wasn't as rushed as the last chapter which as I read over I noticed that it slightly was rushed and out of character just as _Plastic Strawberries_ had said!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	18. I Hate Everything About You

**AN: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews—you guys are so awesome! Here are my shout outs:**

**-**

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **Thanks!

**Dfreak: **Yeah, I agree. He definitely said mean stuff, but he didn't exactly know what was going on so yeah…dance scene should be in a few chapters but who will their dates be? (Play eerie mystery music) Glad you liked the jumping scene-lol. Thanks!

**Afamily123:** Here's more! Thanks!

**Plastic Strawberries:** Hey you're right, I didn't say that (thanks for pointing that out to me!)! Well just so we're clear, he didn't stay the night. Glad you liked it, thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B:** No sequel set up at the moment but depending on when I end this then I'll think of possibly writing a sequel. I was actually starting to write one for Unpredictably Predictable but I dunno, hasn't got anywhere yet (okay so far it's just a really long first chapter but…). Can't wait for Chapter 4 of your story! Hope you like this chapter…thanks!

**xXmannyXx: **Jay is definitely hot! So here's more and thanks for the review! XD!

**antiIRONY:** Aww! (Wipes tear away) That was so sweet! Thank you!

**Queenie12:** Your feelings were hurt? Wow…mine too! (I was seriously conflicting actually putting that in there because I was trying to think of what to say and then I got all mad at myself for what I put and so on…) Well here's the next chapter, thanks for the review!

**A Sinner Has A Prayer:** Thank you! XD! Hope you like the chapter!

**Lena Le2006:** Right here with you on the 'I'm not always the best to trust at keeping secrets'. I mean I will keep them but I hold them in and it pretty much takes over me and I usually wind up spilling my guts so yeah…anyways, thanks for the review!

**Allie:** Yeah, I agree with you, that review went a bit too far. So anyways, I'm glad you liked the chapter, hope you like this one, and thanks for the review!

**Sethsduck17:** Nice take…lol. And the answer to all is pretty much: yes. Well it won't exactly end like that exactly. I get butterflies in my stomach at kissing scenes and such so it's not very loser…actually wait, I am a loser! (No, jk!) Not sure what you're thinking with the whole being alone in the house for some days but something _does_ happen involving her friends. So here's more, thanks!

**BabyLolly14:** Thanks!

**Bridget N: **I can already tell you that in this chapter, one of her friends does find out her secret…but I'm not saying anything more than that! Thanks for the review!

**Saraofthedead: **Not too long just until (as I say how long a loud train goes by)…so don't worry! Thanks for the review!

**Thengrl13: **Manny just always has to have the spotlight on her, nah jk. Thanks for the review!

**Emily: **Aw…thank you!

**Cutechica: **Yeah, I agree. If someone doesn't do something they will get hurt. Now about the dance thing…all I will say is that I do have plans for how they will eventually go public (so yes, they _will _go public!). Thanks for the review, hope you like this chapter!

**Alchemy Dream: **Hey, glad you like the Jack and Jay connection! Glad you liked it! Thanks for the review…your story "Not a Pretty Girl" is really good! Sorry, had to stick that in there.

**Icantstopthinkingofyou: **I know! He's such a bad boyfriend! Okay, so technically he did have reason for saying that but still…he shouldn't have. I still kind of regret writing that from time to time because I feel bad about it! Yes, she could get better (but not sure if she could get much hotter than Jay! He-he…XD!) And yes, she had no room to say _Jay Hogart_ like that either! Thanks for the review!

**CHA CHA CHARMEN: **OMG I love that song! The All-American Rejects rule! He-he…thanks for the review!

**Stephanie: **Aww…thanks!

**Ericaw1992: **I thought this chapter sucked just because I got so confused when I was writing it but…oh well. Thanks for the review!

**Be11011: **Thanks!

**And to all you other fantabulous people: **PhantomPunkEvo, fluffymello, chealsea, degrassicouples93, knightsgurl, yalissa, Brooke, Jessica, spuffygirl11, tazitz, Caroline Minks and XxAnGeL02xX…**Muchas Gracias! You all are so totally and wickedly awesome!**

**-**

**In this chapter you'll actually get to see something finally about Jay's mind except for single one liner thoughts, you'll see what I mean as you read Chapter 18.**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 18**

**-x-**

Emma hurried into the Girl's Washroom and leaned her back against the door, holding back her cries before they got a mind of their own and began to spill down her cheeks.

She knew that they were supposed to be acting like they weren't dating around people but she didn't think it would result to them insulting each other.

_I can't believe Jay…_

_**He's such a jerk!**_

_I mean, you did kind of say his name in a rude way._

_**He called me a basket case!**_

_Yeah, that was bad._

_**Oh he's such an asshole.**_

_I declare dumping him!_

Just then there was a knock at the door and Emma backed away from the door, leaning against one of the sinks instead.

"Em?" Manny asked, stepping into the bathroom.

She glanced over and saw her best friend with her elbows planted on the sink and her head resting in her hands, crying.

"Emma!" Manny exclaimed, running over to her and putting her arm around her shoulders.

"I can't believe Jay…" Emma said very quietly as her sobs began to be more controlled.

"Don't cry over Jay Hogart, Em, he's a total loser! I can't believe he had the nerve to call you one, it's really him. He used you last year and now that you're actually giving up time to tutor him he's still being a total jackass."

_Not always._

_**That doesn't matter, what happened just a few minutes ago drew the line! Jay Hogart is a total jackass, just like Manny said.**_

_We were acting!_

_**I can't believe you! He's a jerk!**_

Emma shrugged and sniffled.

"Don't waste anymore tears over Jay, Emma. If I were you I'd go to Kwan and just give him a new tutor, he doesn't deserve anyone like you. He deserves…Heather Sinclair and all her bimbo-like glory." Manny joked half-heartedly.

Emma let out a very small laugh despite herself and turned around and let Manny pull her into a hug.

"I just thought maybe he had somewhat of a heart, you know?"

Manny shook her head, "He's Jay…his heart is only good for one thing."

"What?"

Manny let out a slight laugh, "Pumping blood."

-x-

Jay leaned his head against a locker and let out a slight groan.

_Not the smoothest move, Hogart._

_**I realize that, shut up.**_

_You realize that she probably hates you now, right?_

_**Yes! I realize that! Will you shut the fuck up!**_

"Wow Jay…" Ellie said, walking towards him slowly, "That was kind of harsh…even for you."

"My emotions got the better of me." Jay said slightly.

Ellie shrugged as the two began to continue their walk down the hallway, Jay tried ignoring all the looks he got from everybody, apparently his comment was even harsher than he thought.

_Let's see, you said you would never think of dating her, then you called her Green-Peace, a loser, and a basket case…yeah, I think that would pretty much set someone like her--or anyone for that matter--off. Especially when that someone is your GIRLFRIEND._

**_Do you ever shut up?_**

_We're the same brain dumb-ass, do you ever shut up?_

_**Do you!**_

"I'm not entirely sure if you'll have a tutor after today…" Ellie said slowly.

Jay nodded, "Yeah, probably not." He replied before the two turned and walked into Media Immersion.

-x-

Emma stared down at her desk as she sat in math class.

Mr. Armstrong continued to ramble on and on about equations but she could not stay focused.

Her mind kept on going right back to what Jay had said in the hallway.

"…_she's my tutor; that already gives her a loser status! Plus, even if she did like me, I would never think about dating someone like Green Peace, she's a total basket case."_

"…_she's my tutor; that already gives her a loser status! Plus, even if she did like me, I would never think about dating someone like Green Peace, she's a total basket case."_

"…_she's my tutor; that already gives her a loser status! Plus, even if she did like me, I would never think about dating someone like Green Peace, she's a total basket case."_

The words just kept repeating itself over and over.

She knew he may not have meant anything by them, they weren't supposed to be together at school, but that didn't matter, what he said hurt.

She could feel tears brimming in her eyes as the words bubbled up in her brain once again.

"…_she's my tutor; that already gives her a loser status! Plus, even if she did like me, I would never think about dating someone like Green Peace, she's a total basket case."_

She bit her lip and stifled a sob, glancing up at Mr. Armstrong, thankful that she was in one of the back rows.

Liberty glanced behind her at Emma confusingly and noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Emma, what's wrong?" she whispered.

Emma shook her head, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She whispered back.

Liberty shook her head in confusion and turned back around.

"Emma, are you okay?" another person asked.

Emma glanced at the seat across the aisle from her and saw Toby glancing at her with worry in his brown eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine." Emma replied before turning and glancing back down at her blank notebook page on her desk, she was sure that something should be written on there, but instead she simply gripped her pen tightly and fought back more tears.

"Em, quit crying…" Manny said from the desk across the other aisle.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Manny, I'm fine."

"You're crying over Jay, there's no reason to. He's a jerk."

"He was my boyfriend, Manny." Emma shot back, but as soon as the words dropped from her lips she wished she could stuff them back in her mouth.

_Did I just say that out loud?_

_**Oh my God!**_

Manny's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.  
Emma raised her hand slightly, "Mr. Armstrong, may I be excused? It's an emergency."

Mr. Armstrong glanced at her, the only times Emma would excuse herself were if she were sick, if she had an appointment with a teacher, or if she had gotten her period which she had had to tell him once in order to get out of class.

"Yes." He replied quickly.

She snagged her notebook and her books in the basket under her seat before getting up and hurrying out of the classroom.

Manny's eyes were still wide from the news Emma had just shared.

Emma and Jay were together?

-x-

She hurried down the hallway and to her locker, twirling in the combination and throwing her needed books for homework into her beige hobo bag before throwing it over her shoulder, shutting her locker and walking off down the hallway.

She didn't usually ever ditch school, but for some reason, this felt like an emergency.

She walked through one of the side doors and the light from the sun was bouncing off of the snow, making it seem even brighter, making her teary eyes sting.

Emma hurried down the sidewalk and made it to the front of the school before walking off down the street and heading towards her house.

-x-

She walked through the front door of her house within ten minutes and dropped her bag on the floor, she kicked off her shoes and walked to the living room, collapsing onto the couch and beginning to cry.

She only got up from her crying once she heard the phone ring, thirty minutes later.

With a simple wipe to each eye, Emma got up from the couch and walked towards the phone.

"Hello?" she answered quietly.

"Emma! Honey, what are you doing home?" Spike's voice asked.

"Mom…uh…I got my period at school so I left." She replied.

Spike laughed slightly, "Well I was just going to leave a message telling you that we should be back in about four days or so."

Emma sighed, "Okay…"

"Honey, I love you. Snake says hi, and for some reason Jack hasn't quit talking about Jay at all."

"Jay!" Emma heard her brother exclaim in the background.

"You wanna talk to Emma?" Spike's voice asked, it sounded a bit more distant now, letting Emma know that she was talking to either Snake or Jack, based on her very soft voice, she was pulling for Jack.

"Emmy!" Jack's voice exclaimed on the other end.

"Hey Jack!" Emma replied back, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Where's Jay?" Jack asked.

Ugh, just the sound of his name brought tears back to Emma's eyes.

"Um…" Emma began, "he's not here right now."

"Oh…well can you tell him I said hi and that I love him?" Jack asked quickly.

Emma let out a short laugh, "Sure, I'll tell him."

"Okay, bye Emmy…I love you." Jack said before she heard some rustling and a slight click, letting her know that they had hung up.

"Love you too." she said to the dead line before clicking off the phone and walking back towards the couch, flipping on the television.

-x-

Jay glanced over at Emma's usual lunch table that day in the cafeteria, but noticed Emma was not there, just Manny Santos, JT Yorke, Liberty Van Zandt, and Toby Isaacs.

Manny laughed at something that JT had said before glancing over at Jay and shooting him a very angry look.

Jay rolled his eyes and turned back towards Towerz who was talking about some new CD store at the mall that he figured they should go "check out" or in other words "steal from".

Jay got up from the table before walking out of the cafeteria, wondering where Emma was.

Just then he heard the door to the cafeteria shut behind him as he began to walk down the hallway, he turned and saw Manny.

"Yes?" Jay asked boredly.

"I can't believe you." Manny said roughly.

"What now? It's none of your business why I called Green Peace those names, it was the truth."

Manny crossed her arms over her chest, "So is that how you treat all of your girlfriends? Calling them names like that?"

Jay's eyes widened, "Girlfriend? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me Jay, Emma told me that you two were together." Manny said.

Jay sighed, "Yeah, well what do you care?"

"I just can't believe that you would call her those names. Especially not Emma, she's my best friend. She shouldn't even be with some creep like you; less should she be made fun of by someone like you."

Jay rolled her eyes, "I didn't mean those names, and Emma knows it."

"No, I don't think she does. She was crying in the girl's washroom after that, then she was at the brink of tears in Armstrong's class, she had to leave." Manny said factually.

_Oh my God…I am an asshole._

_**Honestly, shut up!**_

_I made Emma cry!_

_**She should have known I was kidding.**_

"Well I was just kidding, we'll talk it over during our tutoring session after school, trust me; Emma knows I was just saying that because nobody is supposed to know that we're together."

Manny rolled her dark eyes at him, "I think that you need to find a new tutor Jay."

"That's not really for you to say is it?"

"You don't deserve someone like Emma!" Manny exclaimed, "You're a jerk, a total and complete jerk! I don't care if nobody is supposed to know you two are dating, you can't call her a basket case, and a loser and God forbid that _stupid _name that you know she hates!"

Jay's eyes widened at the sound of that, Manny Santos actually was yelling at him.

"I have no idea _what_ she sees in you, two years ago you turned her own boyfriend against her, last year you used her to serial cheat on your girlfriend…and your girlfriend's best friend, then you gave her an STD, then you got expelled from school-and just so happened to get lucky into getting back in this year-, then you threw her in as your tutor, then you had to go and trash talk her in front of like fifty students!"

Jay backed away from her slightly, now he had everything that he had ever done to her thrown right back in his face.

"And you know what? I'm sure there's more that you've put her through but I don't really care. Emma deserves someone so much better than you! I would rather have her back here with Sean than with you any day. At least he actually cared at least a shred about her."

"So do I, Santos!"

Manny rolled her eyes, "Yeah well after today you have a really bad way of showing it."

"You don't know what goes on between just me and Emma, all you know is what happened in the hallway because we _promised_ each other that we wouldn't tell anyone that we were together until we both figured it was the right time. And then today you had to screw it all up by exclaiming that she liked me."

"Don't even throw this in my face!" Manny yelled, "You're the one who called her those names! It wasn't me!"

"She should have known those names didn't mean anything!"

"Will you just quit asking that and take the hint? _She thought it meant something_! So quit being such an ass about it and realize that what you did was mean! You're going to be lucky if she ever even gives you the time of day after this! And frankly, I'm glad… because Emma deserves…_so_ much better." During her last sentence, tears filled Manny's eyes before she stalked off down the hallway in a huff.

Jay watched as she stalked away from him before he glanced at the locker he was standing by and punched it, cursing under his breath.

_Maybe she's right, maybe I shouldn't go over to Emma's today._

_**Yeah…that's probably better.**_

-x-

"I...hate…everything about you! Why…do I…love you?" Emma screamed out the words as they blared through her headphones.

Just then she heard a knock at the door that was barely audible due to the maximized volume of her _Three Day's Grace _CD.

She stopped the player and slid her head phones off of her head, sitting the CD player and headphones on the couch before getting up and walking towards the door.

She swung it open and was face to face with Manny, JT, Toby, and Liberty.

"Surprise!" JT yelled out jokingly, waving both hands.

Emma let out a slight laugh, "Hey guys…what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"It already let out." Manny replied, stepping inside.

"And we are the annual cheering up crew!" JT exclaimed.

Liberty and Emma both eyed him suspiciously.

"It sounded good in my head." JT said with a shrug.

The other three all stepped inside and walked towards the living room.

"We brought some things to do." Toby said.

"Yes we did." JT said, grabbing the large shopping bag out of Toby's hand and bringing it to the couch, pushing her CD player aside, "We've got DVD's, we've got popcorn…we've got _Root Beer…_" JT sang out the last part and dumped out the items of the bag.

"Libs get five cups for the Root Beer please and thank you." JT said.

"I'll help you Liberty." Toby said, and grabbed the six pack of root beer off of the floor and walked into the kitchen with Liberty.

"I'll go pop the popcorn." Manny said, grabbing the two large tubs of Ace II and also walking into the kitchen.

"You guys didn't have to do this, you know." Emma stated.

JT shrugged, "We felt like it." He looked through the movies before glancing up at her, "So what'll it be? We've got _Without a Paddle, White Chicks, _and for your girls' pleasure, _The Notebook_ and _Mean Girls_."

"I told him to rent _Honey_." Manny stated, "But he didn't listen."

JT rolled his eyes, "You've seen it only fifty times Manny!"

Emma laughed slightly, "I'm thinking _The Notebook_." She said, picking up the DVD rental case for it and handing it to JT.

"Yes!" Manny squealed happily.

"No." Toby groaned.

Liberty poked her head out of the kitchen, "Emma do you have any vanilla ice cream?"

"For what?" Emma asked confusingly.

"Root Beer floats, duh." She replied.

Emma rolled her eyes at her, "Yeah, they're should be a tub of _Blue Bunny_ in the freezer."

Liberty nodded and walked back into the kitchen, Emma could hear the freezer open and shut.

JT put in the DVD and flopped onto the couch, kicking his feet up.

Manny walked back into the living room with one tub of popcorn and sat it on the coffee table close by JT's feet.

"Where's the other tub?" JT asked.

"It's popping…oh so slow one."

JT rolled his eyes at Manny's remark before grabbing the remote and pressing play.

"JT! Don't start the movie without us!" Liberty called from the kitchen.

JT scoffed and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, "The first two minutes are boring, what are you possibly going to miss? Some guy paddling a rowboat at sunset?"

"Does everybody want ice cream with their root beer?" Liberty asked, ignoring JT's comment.

The four answered yes and within two more minutes, the "boring" part of the movie was over and the gang was all situated in the living room.

JT, Liberty, and Toby all sat on the couch with one tub of popcorn while Emma and Manny lay on the floor with the other.

Emma smiled as she glanced around at all of her friends, she felt better now than she had all day.

"You guys?" she asked.

"What?" All four asked in unison.

Emma smiled once more, "Thanks."

-x-

**This chapter had no parts with Emma and Jay together (and was slightly fluffy, corny, and boring), but I figured that this time I would make them stay mad at each other for a bit longer than last time, so I just put in all of the friends coming over and the big argument between Manny and Jay.**

**I hope you liked the chapter!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	19. Horrible On So Many Levels

**Hey everyone! As usual I have to say, thank you so much for the reviews! Here are my shout outs:**

**-**

**Idontknowanything: **I'm glad you liked the Jay/Manny fight, I figured someone had to get mad at him for what he said, so why not Manny? Ha-ha…I definitely wish Jay was in the show more but sadly, he's not. Hopefully in Season 5 he'll be like a real main character though and have a place on the theme song and then he'll realize that he really likes Emma and…(okay now is the part where I make my predictions about them getting together…so I won't!) yeah, you get the point! Anyways, thanks for the review!

**sethsduck17:** Glad you liked the Jay/Manny fight; she definitely did always have a flare! Plus, she's never really liked Jay that much so…yeah. I definitely made sure I tried to keep JT in character because he's just so…JT-like! Definition: Dorky, funny, cool, adorable! (My friend is absolutely in love with Ryan Cooley and she was over when I was writing the chapter and she was like "Put JT in it!" so I did, it kind of fit with the whole being mad at Jay thing so yeah.) I agree Jay is an asshole but I'd probably date him any day, lol. So anyways, thanks for the review! And you're welcome for the one I left on your story, it's really good!

**Icantstopthinkingofyou:** Yay Emma and Manny, lol. I want her to get back with him too…but will it happen in this chapter? Hmm…lol. Yep, you can't really get hotter than Jay (well actually Johnny Depp is hotter than Mike Lobel but still, Mike Lobel is absolutely gorgeous/fine/adorable/cute/hot! My background on my computer is actually like this strip of pictures of Jay and Emma so yeah, it's so cute…I also have one of just Mike, he's so cute in the pictures…lol)! He-he, thanks for the review!

**Dfreak: **Yes, Emma and Jay have to be together! They do! (lol) Don't worry, they won't hate each other for too long, thanks for the review!

**Thengrl13:** Yeah, I don't want them to stay mad at each other for long either! And you're right, he wasn't about to tell the whole school "I love this girl!" so yeah, lol. Thanks for the review!

**Plastic Strawberries: **Yeah, Manny's cool. Thanks for the review; I'm glad you liked it!

**Saraofthedead:** Yeah, that was cool that Manny stuck up for Emma…I wish my friends would stick up for me! (Nah, jk…they do…lol :p) Thanks for the review!

**Blondenhot: **Well here's Chapter 19! Thanks for the review!

**Allie: **Well that was a bit of a different reaction for Manny, lol. But that's cool, I agree she shouldn't meddle but she was sticking for her friend, but hopefully it won't ruin their chances of getting together. Thanks for the review! Hope you like this chapter! XD!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell:** (Ponders for a minute) this chapter kind of has a few fluffy moments in it, lol. Thanks for the review!

**Afamily123:** My biggest problem in writing for people was that I was usually _way _too descriptive (I would put every single detail in it and it drove people nuts), so that's cool that you liked the fact that it was descriptive. Thanks for the review! Glad you liked it!

**Cutechica: **Thanks for the review! I figured Emma should tell someone that they were dating so it was either I would have Emma tell Manny and then the fight or I would have Emma leave and then Manny get in the fight with Jay and he wound up telling her but I decided to do it this way instead, hope you like this chapter!

**xXmannyXx: **You're reviews always me feel good! He-he…I'm glad you like the story! And I agree that Jay is possible like the hottest jackass ever, lol. Thanks for the review!

**PhantomPunkEvo: **I love stories where Manny and Emma are friends too. And you love Dramione? Draco and Hermione? Me too! (Hehe) Thanks for the review!

**BlackOwl892006: **Okay, I'll post more (lol), if you insist…hehe. The way you put the conversation for them getting back together actually gave me a good idea so thanks for that! Anyways, thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B:** You'll see who Emma winds up going to the dance with in this chapter. Good update on your story, by the way. So here's my part of the deal: a new chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Alchemy Dream: **Your boyfriend dumped you for pot? Damn, Manny should have been there…that is wrong! Yeah, I'm glad you liked the less mushy part of my story, lol. Thanks for the review! And you're welcome for me reading your story, it's really good!

**JeSsTeR:** Yep, Jay is being an ass. And yep, that is what we love about Jay, lol. Thanks for the review!

**Redkisses4yoo: **_"I think your stories are better than the show hun!" _Wow…seriously? That made me feel good! Thanks!

**Tazitz: **Is he going to go over? Um…you'll see! Thanks for the review!

**Mickey Mouse Gloves: **Hey, good to see you again! Lol…thanks for the review!

**Stephanie: **Yep, always good to have friends! Thanks for the review!

**And to everyone else: **chealsea, knightsgurl, queenie12, Miss Elisa Tenant, be11011, Anigen, Courtney, Jessica, Jadalynn, Lena Le2006, Chels, and yalissa. **Thank you!**

**-**

**And now I'm in a really good mood! (Partly from all of your awesome reviews plus I'm listening to one of my fave songs, _Just the Girl _by The Click Five…anyone else like it?) **

**Anyways, thank you so much for the reviews everyone!**

**So here's Chapter 19…it's a bit different than my other chapters in my opinion but yeah, hope you like it!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 19**

**-x-**

"Well, that was fun." JT sighed sarcastically, pressing stop on the remote.

"Oh don't even." Manny said, turning to look at him, "You were crying!"

JT shook his head, his eyes glossy, "I did not."

They got up from their positions and dumped both empty tubs in the trash can and placed their cups in the sink.

"So, another movie anyone?" JT asked, looking at all the cases.

"Footloose!" Manny exclaimed.

"Girly." JT replied.

"It is not!"

"Is too."

Emma left the two to their bickering as she walked into the kitchen and helped Toby clean up the cups.

"So, heard about the whole Jay thing…" Toby mentioned.

"Yeah." Emma replied quietly.

Toby turned to look at her, "You okay?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just Jay being Jay."

"Yeah, he is a jerk…I mean after what he did to Rick and everything."

Emma sighed; she knew that Toby and Rick had become somewhat friends the year before.

"So…" Emma drifted, placing a clean and wet cup into the other half of the sink where the dish drainer was.

"About the dance…do you want to go together? As friends, of course." Toby questioned.

Emma looked down at the sink in thought.

_It's not like Jay's going to be going anyway._

_**Like I'd go with him!**_

_I would, we're technically still together…_

_**Say yes!**_

_Say…er…fine just say yes._

"Okay." Emma concluded.

Toby smiled slightly before JT's voice yelled.

"She's trying to kill me!" JT exclaimed.

Emma sat down her cup and walked into the living room, where Manny had JT pinned to the couch.

"Guys what are you doing?" Emma asked confusingly.

"Nothing." Manny said, hopping off of JT and landing on the floor.

JT scoffed and sat up, "Tell that to my stomach, I think it's bruised."

"They were just play-fighting." Liberty said with an eye roll, "Toby how are the cups coming?"

"They're done." Toby said and walked into the living room.

Manny placed her hands on her hips before turning to Emma, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." She said and Manny looped her arm through hers and pulled her off through the kitchen and towards the basement door before the two walked downstairs and into Emma's bedroom.

"What's up?" Emma asked.

Manny glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, "How come you didn't tell me sooner that you were with Jay?"

"It was supposed to be kept a secret." Emma said, "We weren't going to tell anyone until we both thought the timing was right."

"That's what Jay said." Manny said with a sigh.

"Jay said?" Emma asked confusingly, "You talked to Jay?"

"More like yelled at him but yeah."

Emma glanced at her in confusion.

"We got into a big argument in the hall during lunch. I told him that you deserved better and that he was a jerk for what he said to you, stuff like that."

"And what'd he say?" Emma asked nervously.

Manny sighed, "He just kept on saying how he didn't mean anything that he said and that you would know that. Then I told him that you took it seriously…"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I did."

"Then I told him to find a new tutor." Manny said, "I was pretty close to saying that you were going to go to the dance with Toby but I figured that'd be kind of unfair since you're _not_ and all…"

"Actually I told Toby that I would go to the dance with him."

Manny's mouth dropped open, "Seriously?"

Emma nodded, "Just as friends, though."

Manny grinned, "Cool, well you can hang out with me and JT and Liberty then."

"What about Spinner? Aren't you going with him?"

Manny shook her head, "We-"

"Broke up?"

Manny nodded, "Yeah, I was going to tell you today at our lockers but then all of that stuff with Jay happened so…"

Emma nodded in understanding, "Why did you guys break up?"

"I dumped him." Manny stated, "Seriously, he would not shut up about Paige and quit whining about his job, it drove me crazy!"

"He was still talking about Paige?"

Manny nodded, "All too much…especially for an ex. I mean, anytime that he would see her with Mr. Oleander he would be like, 'He thinks he's so cool because he gets to date someone like Paige and he's really as old as her brother…' it drove me insane! "

Emma laughed.

"So now I'm going to the dance with JT and Liberty, which would now be JT, Liberty, Toby, and you." Manny said.

Emma smirked and nodded.

The two walked back upstairs and saw that Toby, Liberty, and JT were all sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, writing stuff on a notebook.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Emma asked.

"We've come up with a proposition." JT stated, trying to sound professional.

"For what…?" Manny questioned.

Liberty glanced over at them, "Normally this would not be my style but the guys thought it sounded fun."

"What sounded fun?" Manny and Emma both asked in unison.

"Well…" JT said, "Since you're parents are out for a few more days, we've decided that we would throw-"

"-a house party." Liberty finished.

Emma's eyes widened, "No…no way…no way can we have a party here."

"Em, it'll be fun!" Manny exclaimed, bumping her shoulder against Emma's.

"It'll be trouble is what it'll be." Emma corrected.

"Emma, you never do anything fun." JT pouted.

"Haha." She said to him sarcastically.

Toby glanced at her with a questioning look in his eyes, "What if we just invited a few grade eleven's over and just had a pizza party or something."

Manny scoffed, "A pizza party? What grade are we in? Five?"

"I can't throw a party you guys, I would get in way to much trouble."

"Em." Manny said, turning to look at her, "Today is Tuesday, you're parents won't be home until like Saturday, that gives us time to have the party on Friday."

"We just can't you guys." Emma said.

JT and Liberty looked at each other before turning back towards her, "Yes we can."

-x-

"This is all right?" Emma asked, glancing over at them, the notebook in her hand.

"Yep." JT replied, "That's the guest list."

Emma ran over it one more time, _Manny Santos, JT Yorke, Toby Isaacs, Liberty Van Zandt, Chester Monroe, Darcy Douglass, Chante Davis, Danny Van Zandt, Craig Manning, Ashley Kerwin _("Because of Craig." Liberty stated)_, Chad Monroe, Chuck Monroe, Amy Clark, Danielle Fargo_.

"So counting you that's fifteen people." Manny stated, "Of course I don't see why you would invite Craig and Ashley."

Emma rolled her eyes, "So I think we should make flier like invitations and hand one out to each person." Emma said.

"Well aren't you professional?" Toby asked with a laugh.

"So Manny you'll be in charge of invites, Toby and Liberty you guys are on snacks and JT you'll do party supplies." Emma said.

"What about you?" Liberty asked.

Emma scoffed, "I didn't even want to throw my party so I won't be in charge of it."

Her four friend's mouths all dropped open.

"Kidding!" Emma exclaimed, "I'm going to help decorate."

The five went over a few more plans before the four left the house and left Emma to her lonesome once more…only now she was a bit more occupied.'

-x-

Manny walked into school early the next day with eight fliers in her hand, each paper a different bright color. She would have had fifteen but Chester's counted for three and Emma, JT, Toby, Liberty, and she didn't need one.

She walked down the hallways and pulled out some tape, ripping it off and sticking one invitation to each of the guest's locker.

She smiled with accomplishment as the final flier, a bright pink one, was taped onto the locker of Chante Davis.

She tossed the tape into her purse before hurrying off down the hallway as the students began to walk through the hallways.

-x-

Jay walked down the hall, noticing a few students were all reading over these neon colored papers.

He noticed one taped onto the locker of Ashley Kerwin, who was out sick for the day, and decided to look at it:

_PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!_

_You have been invited to the Nelson and Company House Party!_

_It will be held at Emma Nelson's house on Friday January 20 around 6 PM._

_807 Crestwood Circle_

_Be There or Be Square!_

Jay read over it once more before a few more students gathered around, all reading the message on the locker.

He heard people talking about it as they walked away from the locker saying things like "I know where I'll be on Friday" "Manny Santos is gonna be there!" "I'll have to have my brother pick up a few cases of beer."

He shrugged slightly before turning and walking off down the hallway.

-x-

Emma paced around her house on Friday one hour before the party started.

"My parents are going to _kill_ me…why did I agree to this?" she asked.

Manny rolled her eyes as she examined her fingernails on Emma's couch, "Because you knew it would be fun. Besides it's only like 14 people, nobody is going to kill you." She said, glancing around the room.

They put streamers up along the walls, filled the dining room table with chips, sodas, cookies, pretzels, punch, and slices of store bought chocolate cake sitting on small plates.

JT had brought over one of his old stereos and it was now sitting on the coffee table with a stack of CD's beside it.

"And we'll help you clean up after the party is over." Liberty stated, walking into the living room from where she had been upstairs.

Emma sighed and flopped onto the couch beside Manny, "So everything will be fine?"

"Yes!" both girls exclaimed in unison for what felt like the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes.

-x-

"This is not fine!" Emma shouted over the loud music blasting from the stereo, "Manny!" she shouted for her best friend but couldn't see her through the swarm of people that was _way_ more than fourteen.

She saw people she didn't even know and people that looked way to old to be going to Degrassi.

"This is a disaster." She stated, running a hand through her blonde hair.

"We'll figure something out." JT said from behind her.

Emma turned to face him, "Well it better be fast, I think I saw _Mr. Oleander_ walking through here a second ago!"

"Uh yeah, he's here with Paige." JT said.

"Paige is here!" Emma exclaimed, "Oh my God." she said, tilting her head back and groaning, "This is horrible on so many levels."

"I'll catch up with you later." JT said, "I think people are starting to believe that that vase that your mom loves is a beach ball."

As he began to walk away he turned back towards her once more, "Oh, and don't drink any punch…" he said before turning and walking off towards the main foyer where there was a big circle of people tossing around a vase.

_I knew I shouldn't have trusted Manny with the invites._

_**Yeah, I mean she posted them out in the open on people's lockers, she should have known everybody would read them!**_

_Maybe that was her plan all along…_

_**Doubtable.**_

Emma continued to wander around the living room and til she felt her body press against something.

She backed away and glanced up, seeing Jay Hogart's eyes looking right into hers.

"Oh my God…" she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Some party." He stated.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Yeah, just what I was thinking." She said sarcastically before walking away from him.

"Emma!" Jay called after her.

"Will you go away!" She yelled over the music.

She walked towards the door that led her to the basement; she began to walk down the stairs, hoping that Jay wouldn't follow after her.

Yeah, right.

"Emma…" Jay said as she opened the door to the basement, only to see a couple making out on her bed.

Her mouth dropped open, "Get off!" she yelled.

The couple broke away and she noticed that it was Chester and Darcy.

"Whoa…uh…sorry Emma." Chester said, getting up off the bed.

Darcy got up as well, wiping her mouth.

"You might wanna fix up the hickey." Jay pointed out.

Darcy's hand slapped over her neck.

"I was talking about Chester." Jay finished.

Chester's eyes widened, "Uh…we're just going to go back upstairs…"

"Right." Darcy replied, "So we'll uh…see you later Emma, nice party by the way." She said before the two of them hurried up the stairs.

Emma sighed and collapsed on the bed, "This is a disaster." She muttered to herself.

"Actually people are having a pretty good time…" Jay said.

"What are you even doing here?" Emma asked, sitting up and staring at him.

Jay backed away slightly and shrugged, "Well-"

"We're not together anymore and I don't want to see you." She said.

Jay glanced at her confusingly, "Since when did we break up?" Jay asked

"What are you talking about? Since the hallway incident!" Emma exclaimed.

"You're not serious…" Jay said, "Emma, you knew I was just kidding."

"No, I didn't. And I can't believe you would say _anything _like that to me…ever!"

"Emma…" Jay said, walking closer to her.

Emma pushed his chest back, "Don't even!"

"I was just kidding when I said that, you didn't have to go and say 'Jay Hogart' like I was some-"

"It doesn't matter, Jay! I was just saying that to Manny to not make anything look obvious, then you had to go and say _that_!"

"Well it obviously didn't stop you from telling Manny that we were together does it!"

"She called you a jerk for saying that so I just told her that you were my boyfriend."

"So you stuck up for me?" Jay asked.

"NO!" Emma exclaimed.

"Sounds like it." Jay stated.

"Well it was...wasn't, it wasn't, okay?"

Jay rolled his eyes and smirked at her, "Yeah…okay. So am I or am I not your boyfriend?"

"Just get out of my house, Hogart." Emma stated.

_Hogart…yeah, I'd say she hates you._ Jay's conscience told him.

"Fine." Jay said, backing away from her before turning and walking up the stairs.

Emma sighed and flopped back onto her bed, closing her eyes and sighing.

Just then she heard a sound from upstairs.

"EMMA!" a voice screamed.

Emma shot up and hurried up the stairs and hurried into the living room.

"What?" Emma asked, quickly.

"I swear to God that I tried to tell them to quit messing around with it." Liberty said.

Emma glanced over and saw a huge mess of glass on the floor.

"Is that…?"

"Your mom's vase…" Liberty stated, biting her lip.

Emma sucked in a quick breath, that had been her grandma's vase before she died, passed onto Spike, Spike loved it more than any piece of furniture in the entire house.

"Party is over!" Manny called out, turning off the music, receiving many groans.

Emma noticed groups of people all walking out of the house, making it slightly less crowded.

Just then she heard another big boom coming from Jack's room.

"Oh my God." She said and hurried off down the hallway towards Jack's room where she saw a guy sitting on the floor, two guys standing close by him laughing, and large pieces of wood surrounding the guy on the floor's body.

She didn't know any of the three guys, but right now she hated them.

"That's my brother's bed you jerks!" She screeched, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" she screamed.

The guy's eyes widened and they walked out of the room, followed closely behind the guy who had been sitting on the floor.

Emma leaned against the wall of Jack's room and sunk to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on the top of her right knee.

"Did I just hear you guys broke Jack's bed?" a voice asked from another room, Jay's.

"What does it matter, Jay?" one of the guys asked.

Emma shot up from the floor and hurried towards the laundry room, where Jay was standing with the other three.

"He probably wishes he could have done it. I mean, why else would he go to a party held by Green Peace Nelson?" another asked, with a laugh.

"Yeah, especially since he bashed her in the hallway earlier this week."

"She's such a basket case, you were right calling Green Peace that Jay, we wish we could have."

Jay slammed the guy up against the wall and held his arm under his chin, holding him up, "Call her that again, and you'll be six feet under the ground by Sunday."

"Jay, dude…it was just a joke." The other guy said as Jay broke his grip from the guy pressed against the wall.

"That isn't a joke." Jay said, turning towards him.

"It's not like the kid is probably that special anyway." One of the guys chuckled, "Shit, he's related to Mr. Simpson and Emma Nelson, he's going to be a natural loser just from that!"

Jay punched the guy right in the stomach for that, "You're just pulling for that death aren't you? You don't _ever_ talk about Jack Simpson-Nelson like that, especially not when I'm around."

Emma's eyes widened at the sound of that.

"So if you guys don't get your asses out of this house right now-"

He didn't have to finish, the three guys broke away from where he was and bolted out of the room and out the front door.

Emma gave a slight smile as tears filled her eyes; Jay had stood up for her brother.

"Hey JT Dork and Toby I-Suck!" he called out.

JT and Toby made their way towards the laundry room and glanced at him confusingly, "What?" JT asked.

"Get some more people and meet me in Jack's room." Jay said.

"Why?" Toby asked confusingly.

"Just do it." Jay said before stalking off out of the room and down the hallway, bumping right into Emma.

"Oh…hey." Jay said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Thank you." She said quietly, glancing up at him with half lidded eyes.

Jay gave her a small smirk, "Don't mention it." He said in a husky almost whisper, before walking off towards Jack's room.

Emma felt her stomach flutter up as she watched him walk away before turning and walking off towards the living room.

She noticed JT and Toby walking off towards Jack's room with Chester and his brothers, Craig, Marco, and Spinner all behind them.

As soon as she entered the living room she saw Liberty sweeping up the remains of the vase into a dustpan before handing them to Manny who threw them into a large black trash bag.

"I'm not sure what we're gonna do about the vase…" Manny said, "But at least a lot of people are gone. JT and Toby just came in here and got a group of guys for some reason."

"Some guys broke Jack's crib." Emma said.

Manny's mouth dropped open, "Oh my God…"

"They wouldn't happen to be those three grade twelve's that ran out of here practically screaming, were they?" Liberty asked with a slight laugh.

Emma nodded, "Jay threatened to hurt them if they didn't leave."

Manny smirked slightly at that, "Just like a true b-"

Emma shot her look that immediately cut her off.

"A true what?" Liberty asked, glancing up at the two.

"Nothing." Emma and Manny both replied in unison.

Liberty shrugged before glancing around, "This is going to take a lot of cleaning up…"

"Hey, Emma?" a voice asked.

Emma turned around and saw Chester's brother Chad.

"Yeah?" Emma asked.

"Does your dad keep his tools in a shed or in the garage or what?" he asked.

"We have a shed in our backyard." Emma said.

Chad nodded, "Okay, thanks." He said before walking off.

"Why?" Emma called after him but didn't get an answer.

Just then two girls came walking into the living room, Darcy and Chante.

"Hey, will you guys help us clean up?" Manny asked.

Chante nodded, "Sure. Where do you guys keep the trash bags?"

"Under the sink in the kitchen." Manny answered before Emma could even speak up.

Both nodded and walked off towards the kitchen.

Liberty walked over towards the coffee table which had chip crumbs, wadded up napkins, soda cans, and pieces of cookies, chips, crackers, pretzels and other things that Emma didn't recognize as even bringing for the party, including pieces of watermelon.

Liberty put her hand on the other side of the table and pushed the remains into the bag.

"I think JT's going to be slightly mad…" Manny stated.

"Why?" Emma asked, turning towards her.

"I don't see any of his CD's."

Emma's eyes widened, "Oh my God."

"It doesn't go there you idiot!" the girls all heard a voice holler from Jack's room.

"OW!" undoubtedly JT's voice howled.

"JT?" Liberty called out.

"I'm fine…" JT said with a slight whimper, "Just _Toby_ being…a…idiot!"

"JT!" Toby howled.

The three laughed and then Emma turned and saw that Chante was picking up things in the kitchen while Darcy was wiping up counters.

Emma smiled slightly before walking off towards the coat closet and pulling out the vacuum and walking back into the living room.

-x-

Pretty soon, the living room was entirely clean, looking pretty much just as it had before her parents left.

The three girls walked into the living room and helped Darcy and Chante.

Manny wandered off to where Darcy was and started to wash off the table while Emma helped Chante do dishes and Liberty swept the floor.

Darcy and Manny began to put the placemats back on the table and smiled in accomplishment at the fact that the kitchen looked perfectly normal, except for the fact that there were tons of dirty dishes.

"Good as new!" a voice hollered from Jack's room.

Emma handed the plate she was washing and the sponge over to Manny before walking off towards Jack's room.

She saw the nine boys all standing up and Chad, Craig, and Marco were putting tools back in the box.

Emma glanced over and saw Jack's crib looking perfectly fine.

Her mouth dropped open and tears filled her eyes.

"You're welcome." JT said with a smile.

"Thanks you guys." Emma said with a teary grin on her face.

"Uh…Em?" Darcy's voice called out.

Emma stuck her head out the door, "What?"

"You said your parents weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow right?"

Emma nodded, "Right."

Darcy bit her lip, "Then they're kind of early..."

"What?" Emma asked confusingly.

"They're here."

-x-

**Dun, dun, dun! Haha, jk.**

**Well…I hope you guys liked the chapter! I know it was a bit weird with the whole party thing but yeah…**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	20. Listen To Your Heart

**Hey everyone…thanks for the reviews! Here are my shout outs!**

**-**

**Icantstopthinkingofyou: **So all in all…Yay! He-he. I'm in love with Jay too, lol. Can't wait for this Friday's episode since well, it pretty much revolves all around Jay and Spinner! (I've already seen the episode cuz I couldn't contain myself to _not_ watch it-hello, Mike Lobel! But still…can't wait!) So, A) Here's my update, B) Uh…to hold myself from saying anything about that…read the chapter! Lol…thanks for the review!

**Saraofthedead:** Yes, there is hope! Yeah…Chad and Chuck (I think those were their names…Chad, Chuck, and Chester, right?) are immature but oh well, everybody has their moments:p, thanks for the review!

**Sethsduck: **Yeah, I was kind of on this like big writing thing when I was writing that chapter and I was like "Oh, let's have Jay get really pissed off for some guys doing something to something that has to do with Jack!" and so the bed broke, lol. Helpless fan girl: Me too! (Waves hand frantically, haha) He definitely needs those brownie points, lol…not really but that just made me picture Mike in a girl scout uniform (places hand on head and shakes head in disbelief)…that's what I thought of when I read 'brownie-points' lol…yes, I am weird. Oh and yeah, I've seen Mike's hair and I SO hope he doesn't join the SHL with Shane, one guy with bad hair is bad enough! Thanks for the review!

**XxAnGeL02xX:** I hope they make up too, lol. Thanks for the review, glad you like the story! Jemma lives on! Hehe…

**Queenie12:** Thanks for the review!

**Chealsea: **Thanks for the review! I like the song too (okay, obviously…lol), can't wait for their CD to come out…

**DegrassiGirlx3:** Thanks!

**Plastic Strawberries: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it so far! Oh, and I read your review on Unpredictably Predictable and then I read over my story and you were right, everybody was so out-of-character and everything…anyways, thanks for the review!

**antiIRONY: **Yeah, some people definitely aren't that lucky (thinks back to friend's party back in May…lol, it happened to me, real life story! Haha, it was bad…)…you're going to Toronto? Take me with you! Hehe, just kidding, I would _love_ to go to Toronto sometime though! Thanks for the review!

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **Thanks! XD!

**Allie: **Yeah…you're right. And I had to have someway for everybody to find out about the party so I just had her post them like that, I could have had her lose one and someone found it and showed it to everyone but…oh well, lol. Yeah, she better work things out with him! Thanks for the review!

**Dfreak: **Yep, parents just don't understand…always ruin fun, haha. Yeah, Jay's a sweetie, lol…I just adore his smirk (hehe…)! Toby is a total nerd! But no, he broke up with Kendra in the first episode of Season 4 when they were all walking up the school steps and they were like this,

_Emma: Chris and I broke up back in June. _

_Toby: Kendra and I broke up in August. _

_Liberty: It seems that I was abducted by aliens over the holiday…oh and Towerz and I broke up. _

_Emma and Toby: Sorry. _

Or something like that! Thanks for the review! XD!

**Afamily123:** Thanks!

**Cutechica:** Yeah, I hope they work things out too! Yep, he's a good boyfriend (not that I would actually know but in my story…lol). Not gonna give anything away about an 'escape-plan' lol…thanks for the review!

**Sandy-Pandy: **Yeah…I love long chapters! Hehe…the dance chapter is in this scene so you'll see how that all works out. But yeah, Toby is somewhat of a…freak, lol. I saw this movie on ABC Family called _I Do, They Don't _and it had Ephraim Ellis (Rick on Degrassi) in it and they showed this one scene at a bowling alley and I saw Jake Goldsbie (Toby) walking up to one of the characters and talking and I was like "Oh my God, it's Toby! And without glasses!" and my friends all stared at me like I was nuts, lol. Yeah, Chester's brothers are only in one episode but they were cute and I needed party guests (lol, no jk!). Thanks for the review!

**Bridget N: **Thanks for the review!

**Courtney: **Thanks for the review! I wasn't really sure if that would be like Jay to say JT Dork since it was more of a Liberty line (in Shout Part 2) but oh well, lol. Thanks!

**Christii X: **Hey, thanks!

**Trace: **Thanks!

**OneTreeHillGirl: **Yeah, I hope they get together! Lol…thanks!

**BlackOwl892006: **Okay, I'll post more! They're not back together…yet. But yeah, they are very cute together. Like in the episode _Secret_ when they kissed in the van my heart sped up and I was like "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! STAY TOGETHER!" but they didn't make it even to the end of part 2! Sigh…maybe Season 5! Thanks for the review!

**xXmannyXx: **Jemma forever! Lol…I like her with Jay out of all other pairings, A) Sean was okay but…nah…I like him better with Ellie and B) Chris is such a jackass! I hate him! Ugh…he made me so mad in that episode when he was like "Maybe the ravine." and "Gonorrhea" from that point on, Chris Sharpe was so dead to me, lol. So yeah, Jay and Emma! Thanks for saying that this is better than the show, I got all fuzzy inside! Thank you for the review! XD!

**Idontknowanything: **Thank you! They're replacing three scenes in the opening? (Crosses fingers and whispers, "Mike Lobel, Mike Lobel" lol) I wonder which characters aren't going to be in Season 5? Hmm…Ashley maybe (since she went to London), possibly Caitlin (she left too…) and maybe…uh…I dunno. But wouldn't that be weird if like Heather Sinclair got a part on the show other than being talked about? Lol…maybe Chester will be on the theme song…okay, I'm gonna shut up now! Hehe…yeah, I doubt we've seen the last of Jemma either! Thanks for the review!

**GirlGoneCrazy: **Thanks!

**Linzer-B: **Yep, at least the house is cleaned! Awesome about your update, and thanks for the review!

**And to all you other fantabulous (I love that word, lol) people: **thengrl13, xcrazibabii69x, chavela2, be11011, Blondenhot, redkisses4yoo, yalissa, spikegothicchick, and Stephanie…**thanks a million! I love you guys!**

**-**

**_I was just looking on this message board and there was this pregnancy spoiler for an episode in Season 5, a character is supposed to be pregnant and it was confirmed by some Degrassi site who it was, I'm not sure if it's true but just incase it is true and you don't like spoilers, don't read this! (Note: Spoiler here, don't read if you don't like them! Like I said, not totally sure it's true but…) But it says that it's Liberty…which technically means that JT would be the dad but like I said not exactly sure if it's true. But the people on the site said that it was even said by Sarah Barrable-Tishaeur…but once again, not entirely sure if it's true! _**

**So anyways, here's the next chapter.**

**Hope you like!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 20**

**-x-**

Emma's eyes widened, "They're _here_!"

Darcy nodded.

"Who's here?" Craig asked.

"My parents." Emma said, turning to the guys.

Marco's eyes widened.

"Okay…uh…you guys just go downstairs and go to my window and open it and crawl out." Emma stated.

"You want us to crawl out of a _window_?" Spinner asked.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Well you can't very well go out the front door, can you?"

"What about a back door?" Chuck asked.

"Whatever, just go!" she exclaimed.

The guys nodded and all scampered out the door.

Emma watched as Chad, Chuck, and Craig all hurried off towards the back of the house while Marco and Spinner hurried towards Emma's bedroom door and JT, Toby, and Chester all hurried towards the living room.

She saw Darcy and Chante hurry off towards her bedroom as well followed closely by Chester.

Emma glanced up at Jay slightly, "Thank you…again."

"It was nothing." Jay said, walking towards her.

Emma backed up against Jack's door and sucked in a breath as he came even closer towards her and leaned his face by hers, their breath mingling.

"Emma, what are you doing? Hurry up! They're unloading stuff right now, you don't have much time!" Manny yelled.

Emma broke away from Jay and hurried off down the hallway.

Jay flipped off the light switch in Jack's room before following her.

Manny turned off the light in the living room and flopped on to the couch, turning on the television and then the DVD player, pressing play to whatever DVD was in there, which happened to be _Footloose_ from when Emma's friends had been over a few days before.

Manny fast forwarded it until it was close to the end before she closed her eyes quickly, everybody followed her actions.

JT and Toby sat on the floor and closed their eyes as well; Liberty rested her head against JT's shoulder.

Emma sat on the floor as well, Jay sitting close by.

She glanced up at him in the dark, barely able to make out his facial features before sliding her hand down close to his.

His hand lightly touched hers, his fingers lacing around hers, making her heart race.

Suddenly they all heard the door open.

"Emma?" Spike's voice asked.

Snake turned on the light in the living room and noticed the large group of kids all in the living room.

Manny played dumb and opened her eyes, glancing at the two, "Oh…hey Mr. and Mrs. Simpson." She said with a smile.

"Hey." JT stated.

"What are you all doing?" Spike asked.

Emma broke her hand away from Jay's and got up off of the floor, "Sorry, some friends came over for a movie night…"

Spike smiled slightly, "That's alright…"

"Jay!" Jack squealed from where he was in Spike's arms.

Spike sat him down and he waddled over to Jay who picked him up and hugged him, "Hey Jack Attack!"

Snake yawned, "Man, I'm tired." He said, "I think I'm gonna head off to bed. Don't stay up too late." Snake said, kissing the top of Emma's head before walking up the stairs.

Spike nodded as well, "Me too…are you girls staying the night?"

"I am." Manny stated.

"We're gonna head out…" Liberty said, getting up from the floor and pulling JT up with you, "See you Monday, guys. Bye Spike." She said before grabbing JT's hand and the two walked off towards the foyer.

Spike smiled at Emma before telling her goodnight and walking off towards her bedroom.

"See you Emma." Toby said, getting up as well and walking off.

Emma heard the door shut one last time before turning to Manny who flipped off the television and glanced at Emma and Jay, "I'm going to go downstairs…" she said before walking off towards the kitchen and to the basement.

"Jay…" Emma said, glancing at him.

"What?" Jay asked.

"Thanks…again."

Jay laughed, "Its fine, Emma. I owed you an apology anyway."

_So where is it?_

_**Don't be mean! He saved your butt back there!**_

Emma smiled at him slightly.

"I'm sorry, Em." Jay said quietly.

Emma nodded, "Me too."

Jay smiled and pulled her into a slight hug, Emma hugged back and he kissed her hair before the two broke out of the embrace.

"So, I'll see you on Monday…?" Jay asked.

Emma nodded, "And be here after school, we'll have a lot of tutoring to catch up on."

Jay smirked, "You're still going to tutor me?"

"Good pay." Emma said sarcastically before grinning at him.

Jay laughed slightly, "Okay, I'll see you."

"Bye Jay!" Jack exclaimed.

Jay turned to Jack and pulled him into a little hug, "I'll see you around, Jack Man."

"Bye." Jay said, turning towards Emma.

"Bye…" she said as she watched him walk off and then she heard the front door shut.

She could feel a blush creep up to her cheeks before she flopped onto the couch and smiled.

"Emma? I'm tired." Jack stated.

Emma nodded and got up, grabbing her brother and walking off towards his bedroom.

She got him changed into his pajamas before placing him into his recently rebuilt crib.

"Love you Emmy." Jack said tiredly.

"Love you too, Jack." Emma said before blowing him a kiss and walking out the door, turning off the light and closing the door.

She made her way into her bedroom and glanced at her clock which read _1:51_.

"That was some party." Manny said from where she was sitting cross legged on Emma's bed, now in her pajamas which consisted of a white spaghetti strap tank top that fell to her belly button and a pair of sky blue pajama pants with clouds on them, Emma recognized them as her own.

"Yeah, definitely." Emma said with a sigh before sitting down next to Manny.

"So did you and Jay make up?" Manny asked, glancing down at her pink painted toe nails.

Emma nodded, "Yeah…"

"So you're back together?" Manny questioned, looking up at her.

Emma shrugged, "I don't know…"

"How could you forgive him after he said that?" Manny asked.

"The same way you could forgive Craig after everything he put you through." Emma snapped.

Manny glanced down at Emma's comforter, "I guess you're right…but I mean…are you still mad at him?"

"I'm still upset with him for what he said, I mean it still hurts but I forgave him."

"Did you kiss?" Manny asked, glancing up at her with a twinkle in her chocolate eyes.

Emma shook her head.

"Emma!" Manny exclaimed, nudging her best friend in the shoulder.  
Emma laughed, "We almost did in Jack's bedroom though."

Manny laughed right back, "I guess that's a bit better."

Emma smiled at Manny, happy that she wasn't too upset about the fact that she had made up with Jay before Manny changed the subject to something about the party and got the girls wound up into an hour long conversation.

-x-

Days went by and turned into weeks, pretty soon it was only one day before the Valentines Dance and Emma could be found in her living room on the couch sitting next to Jay.

They still weren't the same; especially in the sense that they hadn't kissed since the day before the insulting rally in the hallway, technically they weren't even together anymore, just friends, and not really even that around people…they weren't insulting each other around people, they just didn't really talk or acknowledge each other around people.

"You're getting better at this, you know." Emma said as she glanced up at Jay from where the two were working on his math assignment.

"I know, I got a B on a quiz yesterday."

Emma's mouth dropped open, "Jay that's great!"

"At least I'll get to graduate." He said with a soft smile.

Emma smirked up at him, "Okay well, it's a really good improvement."

"Thanks."

"So…are you going to that dance tomorrow?" Emma asked.

Jay shook his head, "Dances aren't really my thing; you are though right?"

Emma nodded, "With JT, Liberty, Manny and Toby."

"I bet that'll be fun." He noted sarcastically.

Emma jokingly slugged his chest, "Be nice."

Jay rolled his eyes, "So are we still tutoring tomorrow or what?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "I'm supposed to go over to Manny's house with Darcy, Chante, and Liberty to get ready for the dance…sorry."

Jay shrugged, "No problem."

He glanced up at the clock and noticed that it was almost five, "We better go get Jack."

Emma nodded and he helped her up from the couch before the two walked out of the house together.

-x-

"Em, you look _great_, don't worry!" Manny exclaimed, glancing at her best friend.

Emma looked at herself in the mirror; she was wearing a light pink asymmetrical spaghetti strap dress that cascaded around her knees and a pair of light pink kitten heels. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with a silver bun cap over it and silver chopsticks coming out of each end.

"You think?" she asked, spinning around.

Darcy smiled at her, "Totally." She smoothed down her red cocktail dress that fell right above her knees.

"What time is it?" Liberty asked, smoothing some clear gloss over her lips.

"Six." Manny replied, "The dance doesn't start for another hour."

Emma glanced at what her best friend was wearing, a pink cocktail dress with red swirls that cascaded around her knees and flipped out when she spun around, along with a pair of strappy red heels. Her hair was straightened and pieces of her hair were spiral curled and pulled together with a clip on each side of her head.

"Well I better get going then." Darcy said, getting up and grabbing her black handbag from Manny's dresser, "I'm supposed to meet Chester at my house at 6:30 so I'll see you guys later." She said with a wave.

"Oh, I need a ride." Chante said, getting up from where she was seated on Manny's bed and hurrying towards her as fast as she could in her white high heels, she was wearing a white dress with diagonal pink stripes on it that fell to her knees, "See you guys at the dance." She said with a smile before following Darcy outside of Manny's room.

The girls listened as they heard them walking down the stairs, clacking across the tile, and walking out the front door.

"We're all getting picked up here, right?" Emma asked, glancing over at Manny.

Manny nodded, "Around 6:45."

"So what are we supposed to do for forty five minutes?" Liberty asked.

"You're hair is not even done yet." Manny said and walked over to Liberty who was in the process of straightening her hair, "It's going to look so cool; I don't think I've ever seen you with straight hair."

"You better hope it doesn't turn out disastrous." Emma noted, remembering her parent's wedding incident with her hair.

Manny handed Liberty the straightening iron after going over the details of how to do it.

"I've got it!" Liberty exclaimed as Manny explained the details once again.

"Okay, okay, just making sure. Now don't over do it, and try not to get it stuck to your hair because it will burn…and get insanely frizzy." Manny stated.

Liberty rolled her eyes before taking the iron and walking out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

"This is going to be so much fun." Emma said with a smile as she walked over to Manny's bed and sat down, turning on the television.

"Have you done your makeup yet?" Manny asked.

Emma nodded without glancing away from the television where a show on MTV was on.

Manny glanced at her face, "You sure?"

Emma nodded again, "Yeah, some light eye shadow and lip gloss."

"It's barely noticeable!" Manny exclaimed before grabbing her makeup kit and sitting down in front off Emma, beginning to put blush on Emma's cheeks.

"Manny I don't need that much makeup."

"Makeup just enhances your greatest assets Em, so quit complaining!" Manny said as she finished with the blush and reached for the lipstick.

Ten minutes went by and Emma now was wearing a light pink lipstick with a clear cherry flavored lip gloss over it, light blush on her cheeks and a silvery-white eye shadow on her eyelids.

"That's better." Manny said with a smile of satisfaction.

"GUYS!" Liberty exclaimed.  
Manny and Emma both turned towards the door to Manny's bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked.

Liberty ran out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and Manny and Emma had to restrain from laughing.

"Oh my God…" Emma said, her hand covering her mouth.

One side of Liberty's hair was sticking out like a bush.

"Liberty, what did you _do_!" Manny exclaimed, shooting up from the bed and running over to her.

"Well the iron kind of got stuck to part of my hair so when I finally got it off I realized I had burned my hair and now half of it is like a giant bush and the other half is curly." Liberty said.

Manny's mouth dropped open, "Oh my God…"

"What are we going to do?" Liberty asked.

Emma began to giggle.

"What is so funny?" Liberty and Manny both exclaimed in unison, turning to her.

Emma shook her head, "Nothing…it's nothing, just…it reminds me of my parent's wedding."

"You should call Lucy and Caitlin." Manny stated, glancing back at Liberty's head with a pitiful expression on her face.

"What if you braided it?" Emma suggested.

"Braided it?" Liberty asked.

Emma nodded, "It's probably your best bet."

"Emma do you _see_ my hair right now! How do you think it's going to braid!" Liberty exclaimed.

Emma shrugged.

Liberty sighed, "Okay, do you have any Vaseline?"

Manny nodded.

"Okay, go get me some so I can fix this."

Manny nodded once again and hurried out of her bedroom and into the bathroom, returning a few moments later with a tube.

She handed it to Liberty and Liberty thanked her before walking out of the bedroom once again.

"Her hair is a disaster." Manny sighed, "We should have just pulled it into a ponytail."

Emma shrugged, "Hopefully that Vaseline stuff will help."

"Maybe I should have just straightened it."

"Manny!" Emma exclaimed, "It'll be fine, relax."

Manny sighed before turning her attention back to the television.

-x-

Liberty walked back into the bedroom a few minutes before 6:45; her hair was now all in little braids.

"Wow…" Emma stated, "I don't think I've ever seen you with braided hair before…it looks kind of longer."

Manny nodded in agreement, "It looks good."

Liberty smiled at the two before glancing at herself in the mirror, she was wearing a light pink cocktail dress somewhat similar to Emma's only hers had white hearts on it and it fell slightly below her knees and she was wearing a pair of white high heeled sandals.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"That's our cue." Manny said, getting up from the bed and walking off out of the room, followed closely by Emma and Liberty.

-x-

Jay sighed as he sat on the couch in his house; his parents weren't home so it was just him, his dog, and his television for company.

_Maybe I should just go to the dance._

_**Emma will be there, I do want to see her.**_

_Dances aren't really my style though._

_**Eh hem, once again, Emma will be there.**_

Jay jumped up from the couch before jogging up the stairs to find something more acceptable to wear…he was going to the dance.

-x-

The friends all stepped into the gym and immediately saw tons of students all dancing alone, in couples, or in large groups.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Manny exclaimed with a grin on her face.

JT turned to Liberty and held out his arm to her, "May I have this dance?" he asked jokingly.

Liberty grinned and took his hand, tossing her purse over towards Manny before walking off with JT to the dance floor.

Toby, Manny, and Emma all found a table for six and sat down, glancing around at everyone.

Just then somebody approached the table, Emma and Manny both glanced up and saw Danny Van Zandt.

"Manny…" he stated.

"Uh…yeah?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"Wanna dance?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Emma smirked at her and mouthed 'Aww'.

Manny rolled her eyes before glancing back over at Danny and shrugging, "Yeah I guess, but if your hand even comes close to my butt I will break it." She said before getting up and grabbing his hand, hauling him off towards the dance floor.  
Emma and Toby laughed before Toby tapped Emma on the shoulder, "Do you want to dance?"

Emma nodded, "Okay." She said before grabbing his hand and letting him lead her towards the dance floor.

She gently placed her hands on his shoulders and he let his find themselves on her waist before they began to sway together to the music.

She glanced around the room and at all the people and suddenly her eyes settled on a certain person walking into the gym.

Jay.

_Oh my God…he came!_

_**That's so sweet!**_

She saw what he was wearing, a pair of khaki pants and a white wife beater with a black shirt over it buttoned up halfway.

He looked absolutely adorable.

She smiled slightly at him before turning her attention back to Toby as they continued their dance.

-x-

Jay ran a hand through his hair as he noticed Emma dancing with Toby.

_What did I even come here for? _

_**It's obvious she's with Toby.**_

_God, who would go for him?_

The song ended and Emma smiled at Toby before breaking away from him and walking off back towards her table while Toby walked over towards Liberty and JT.

Jay sighed as another song came on through the speakers; he recognized it as _Listen to Your Heart_ by some band called DHT.

Emma glanced over at him and gave him a slight smile, and that did him over.

He walked towards her and held out his hand.

Emma glanced at him wide eyed as if to say _are you serious_?

Jay nodded and Emma took his hand shyly as he led her over towards the dance floor.

Emma noticed that everybody's attention was turned towards the couple, who were most definitely an unlikely site for the students of Degrassi.

"You realize everybody is watching us right?" Emma whispered.

Jay shrugged, "So? Let them watch."

Emma's eyes widened, "What are you talking about? You didn't even want to let people know we were dating…"

"I don't care Emma…" Jay murmured, glancing down into her eyes and saying something very quietly that she couldn't comprehend.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"I don't care what they're thinking. I don't care what they will be talking about on Monday. I don't care if they think that the two of us dancing is insane."

"Then what _do _you care about, Jay?" Emma asked.

"You…" Jay said huskily.

Emma's eyes widened.

"I love you Emma." Jay said.

Emma practically choked up, tears filled her eyes and she knew that her mascara would soon be running down her cheeks.

"I love you too…" she whispered, staring down at her feet.

Jay placed a few of his fingers under her chin and lifted it before the two's faces inched closer and closer towards each other.

And then it happened, their lips met.

Emma's hands slid up around his neck as his tightened around her waist, pulling her closer towards him as his tongue pressed against her lips.

She allowed him to enter and their tongues began to slowly massage against each other as they kissed deeply, not caring what a single person in the room was thinking.

_Listen to your heart…_

_When he's calling for you_

_Listen to your heart…_

_There's nothing else you can do…_

_I don't know where you're going,_

_And I don't know why,_

_Listen to your heart,_

_Before,_

_You tell him goodbye…_

-x-

"Oh my God…" Toby said, as he watched Jay and Emma kissing in the middle of the dance floor.

"They've been together." Manny stated.

"What?" JT and Toby both asked, turning towards her in confusion.

Manny shrugged, "They were together when they were in the hallway back in January, they just didn't tell anyone."

"So they've been together for awhile now?" Toby asked.

Manny shook her hair, "They kind of broke up in between."

"I think it's romantic…wrong…but romantic." Liberty said with a smile as she watched the two kissing.

Manny glanced across the room and saw Alex rolling her eyes before turning and stalking out of the room, followed closely by Amy and Towerz.

Manny smirked.

_Ha-ha,_ she thought to herself.

She noticed that the whole entire room had their attention completely fixed on Emma and Jay.

Manny sighed before grabbing onto Toby's hand –since Danny was nowhere in site- and leading him towards the dance floor and looping her arms around his neck, beginning to sway to the music.

Darcy followed, hoping to get all the eyes away from Jay and Emma, she held onto Chester's hand and began to dance with him as well.

Liberty smiled at JT and slid her arms around his neck and they began to dance.  
Soon the attention was all turned away from the couple and to their dates and dance partners.

-x-

Emma and Jay broke away and pressed their foreheads against each other's.

Emma turned and looked over at Manny and mouthed 'thank you' to her.

Manny smiled in return before turning back towards Toby.

"Did you really mean that?" Emma asked as the song changed to some song by _Bowling for Soup_.

"Mean what?" Jay asked.

"That you loved me…" Emma stated.

Jay smirked at her, "Did I stutter?"

Emma grinned and shook her head before pressing her lips against his once again.

-x-

**Sigh…they're you have it!**

**They're together! (Blows horns and throws confetti—lol)**

**Well I hope you liked the chapter!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	21. What's Going to Happen?

**AN: Hello beautiful people! Thanks for all of your reviews! Here are my shout outs!**

**-**

**PrudencePiperHalliwell: **Yay confetti! Lol…thanks for the review!

**Icantstopthinkingofyou: **I wish something like that would happen to me too! I was watching _Hitch _earlier and I saw how Kevin James acted around that girl and I was like "Why can't a guy be like that to me!" lol. Thanks for the review!

**Chealsea:** Yeah…I love the song _Listen to Your Heart_, I haven't heard the eighties version but oh well. Thanks!

**Bridget N: **Yay! Hehe…thanks!

**Queenie12: **Hmm…fantabulous, I love that word! I say it all the time around my friends! Thanks for the review!

**Redkisses4yoo: **The end? Nope…not yet! Thanks!

**Alchemy dream:** Yep, it's innocent so far, hehe (jk nothing absolutely positively horrid happens!). Oh and about your last update of _Not a Pretty Girl_ I had Staind's "It's Been Awhile" stuck in my head ALL DAY! Lol…thanks for the review!

**Tazitz: **Not sure how much longer I'll continue this, probably about four more chapters or so…I was hoping to get it done some time before school starts since then it gets so hectic and you don't have as much writing time. But no, that wasn't the last chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Blondenhot: **Aww, thank you!

**Dfreak: **No! It's not all, don't worry! Lol. But to the Rated R thing…uh…all I'm gonna say is Chapter 22 will be out eventually. Thanks for the review!

**XxAnGeL02xX: **Yep, Jemma rules! Thanks for the review!

**Lady-kitty: **I'm a sap too! (You should have seen me during Titanic and The Notebook, it was horrible!) And about the college thing, there will be like one or two chapters about college. Thanks for the review!

**DegrassiGirlx3: **Not stopping! Here's Chapter 21 to prove it! Hehe…thanks!

**Plastic Strawberries: **Nope, that wasn't the last chapter! But the Emma being 89 storyline was interesting, lol. Thanks for the review!

**BlackOwl892006: **Wow. That. Was. Really. Sweet. Thank. You. For. The. Review! Lol…jk! But thanks for the review! My friend laughed at the Liberty line too. Thanks for the review!

**Saraofthedead: **Nope, doesn't mean it's the end! Thanks for the review!

**xXmannyXx: **Hey…wow that was a lot of OMG's and MORE's…lol. Jay is definitely hot, and I loved last Friday's episode! He looked so hot! Thanks for the review!

**Miss Elisa Tenant: **(violins play in background) lol…thanks for the review!

**Spikegothicchick: **Thank you! I would love to send Mike Lobel to everybody's doorstep but if I ever get the chance to meet him, I get first dibs! Lol, jk. Thanks for the review!

**antiIRONY: **Thanks!

**Afamily123:** Not the end (maybe I shouldn't have said "They're you have it!" at the end…?)! This review got me all teary, thank you!

**Sethsduck17: **Jay, dance, wife beater…hot! Hehe…I was getting all giggly when I was writing that, lol. But yeah, not really adorable…more like hot/sexy/fine! Haha. Good to be good in your book! And about the Full House story…wow, I got such a writer's block on that like back in January! It was really bad…and now I've switched computers and lost the beginning of Chapter 8 but who knows! I read over it a few days ago and had some ideas so I might just have to update it! Thanks for the review! Oh yeah, and I saw that you posted on my School of Rock story about Freddy and how he would be hot if he wasn't only 10, did you know that he was actually like 14 in that and is now like 16 or 17? I think that is so weird, his voice was so squeaky! Lol…

**CassieSteele: **It's not over…don't worry! Thanks for the review!

**Crashetburn: **Now that I think of it…you're right! Alex and Amy are still in a dispute and also, I'm not sure if she would have really been jealous since in the last episode she was talking about him being her ex and stuff so I dunno. But thanks for pointing that out!

**Sarah: **Finally together! Sigh…I really wish they would get together on the show! I'm getting somewhat over powered by Jemma as well, lol.

**Linzer-B: **Yeah, I was listening to _Listen to Your Heart_ and I was like "That could go with Jay and Emma!" lol. The whole what's going to happen to them thing will be somewhat explained in this chapter and the next. The _Unpredictably Predictable_ sequel is like an extra long WIP. But hopefully it'll be up someday! Thanks for the review!

**Kuddls: **Thanks! Glad to have new readers! XD!

**StonyCase65: **Monday will happen in this chapter! But yeah, I'd wait until the Exec. Producer says anything to believe it, although SBT said it but I dunno. Yeah, I doubt Craig and Em would get together and Toby and Emma will probably not happen and yeah, they can't make her single for two seasons (unless they're trying to make her all _I don't need a man to make my life complete_ woman's liberation stuff) so yeah, Jay/Emma live on! Hehe…thanks for the review!

**Cutechica: **Don't cry on the job! Lol…I was at school and reading _The Outsiders _and I started crying and my crush just stared at me, it was _so bad_! Nope, not the end of the story! Thanks for the review!

**PhantomPunkEvo: **I'm considering doing a sequel…thanks for the review!

**Aliese Nicole: **My friend wrote up a letter to Epitome about this story so I dunno what'll happen with that I kept on telling her not to write it but she did anyway. Thanks for the review!

**Anigen: **Thanks!

**Be11011: **Hey, thanks!

**Idontknowanything: **Yeah, I was trying to keep Jay as in character as possible and yeah in Moonlight Desires he was acting different, but awesome! I loved the line "Look, as your friend _substitute_…" I loved that! Lol. Thanks for the review!

**Newportbabe44: **Thanks!

**Lena Le2006: **Hope you had fun on your trip! Thanks for the review!

**Melinda: **(Throws extra confetti left from Chapter 20) 600 reviews…wow. Hey 600th reviewer, thank you!

**Luvs-2-Read-18: **I heard the "did I stutter?" line in some movie last year (I think it was _Newsies _but I'm not sure…) and I say it a lot now! Lol…thanks for the review!

**And to all the rest of you supercalifragilisticexpialidocious people: **knightsgurl, Christii X, thengrl13, theocisforme, lost2thoughts, fluffymello, chavela2, Mickey Mouse Gloves, Allie, ericaw1992, Stephanie, HunnyBee69 (as long as you were crying in a good way! I hope it isn't sad!), Roxanne76, **and** lilbubbles1991**—you guys rule! I'm in such a good mood and your reviews only made me happier! Why am I in such a good mood? I just found out like 2 days ago that they showed my friend and me on _Jesse McCartney's MTV: Diary_ which was so exciting!**

**-**

**(Laughs…) you thought it was over… (Laughs again) Nah, just kidding. But no, the story isn't over! Thank you once again for all the reviews! I'm over 600…wow!**

**Here's Chapter 21 (shorter…sorry!)!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 21**

**-x-**

The following Monday morning had everybody in school buzzing about the fact that Jay Hogart and Emma Nelson were officially together.

"They're just perfect." Chris Sharpe muttered with a sarcastic laugh, "He already gave her gonorrhea, maybe now he can get her pregnant too."

JT stared at him out of the corner of his eye before turning back to Liberty, "I bet everyone else is worse than him though, this is like the couple that can't be. The anti couple, Jay and Emma, it's like making Darth Vader marry Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, or that blonde guy in Harry Potter getting together with that smart girl with the bushy hair, or-"

"JT." Liberty said, holding out her hand to stop him, "I get it."

JT rolled his eyes at her, "Still, I don't know if Emma can handle everyone talking about her."

"Emma can handle everything." Liberty stated, she had liked her hair so much from the dance that she had decided to keep it that way with the braids.

JT shook his head at her, "I rode a roller coaster one time on a class trip and she threw up, she can _not_ handle everything."

Liberty rolled her eyes right back at him before they noticed everybody turning around and staring.

JT and Liberty turned as well and saw Jay's car pulling into the parking lot, and him getting out as well as Emma.

-x-

"Well good to know everybody knows who's who in this school." Jay said with a shrug as he and Emma walked up the school steps of Degrassi, getting stares from almost every student.

Emma did not answer, simply stared around wide eyed at everybody staring.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, glancing at her with concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, fine. Let's just get into school." She stated and swung open the main door of Degrassi, stepping inside.

"I can't believe they're actually staring. They saw us together at the dance." Jay stated.

Emma glanced over and saw Alex staring at her viciously from her locker before turning back to Jay and shrugging.

"Well aren't we self conscious?" he questioned jokingly.  
She laughed slightly before glancing around and seeing Manny walk down the hallway.

"I'm gonna go, I'll see you." She said before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying off after Manny and looping her arm through hers, hauling her off towards the girl's washroom.

Jay shrugged slightly before turning and walking off down the hallway.

-x-

"Em, what's wrong?" Manny asked hurriedly as the two stepped inside the washroom.

"I don't know what's going on with me, Manny." Emma said, tilting her head back against the wall.

"What do you mean?"

Emma glanced at her, "I mean, at the dance I was fine with hanging out with him and stuff but now that everybody knows about us I'm getting so self conscience and I _don't _know why."

"Alex." Manny replied simply.

"What about her?"

Manny rolled her eyes, "Are you scared of what she thinks about you and Jay?"

Emma shook her head, "I don't know, I don't think so."

Manny sighed, "Look Em, you can't just be afraid of what people are going to think…trust me I know."

Emma bit her lip, "I'm being a total idiot."

Manny laughed, "Well not a _total_ idiot but…"

"I guess I'm gonna head back out there." Emma said before walking towards the door.

Manny followed behind as she pulled open the door and stepped out into the crowded hallway, she saw Jay leaning against a locker right across from the washroom, he was waiting for her with a smirk on his face.

She smiled slightly at him before making her way towards him; she glanced around at everybody before pressing her lips up against his softly.

Jay placed his hands lightly on her hips before kissing her back and slowly breaking away.

Emma smirked before lacing her fingers through his and walking off down the hallway, shooting Alex a devious look as if to say _you never should have cheated on Jay; your loss…HA!_

People stared, but that was expected, the couple knew that the shock would wear down within a week.

-x-

And it did. Two days after the kiss in the hallway, people had pretty much just stated that the two were a couple and that it was now obvious.

The days turned into weeks…and the weeks turned into months.

Emma continued to tutor Jay, his grades were now all C's and B's…and one A on a history assignment, causing Emma to squeal.

She wasn't sure if her parents actually knew for sure her plans, about graduating early and moving but she still didn't figure it was the time…Snake was getting worse and worse each day, she knew it put her mother into major stress.

It was now the second week of May, only two weeks to graduation and not very much longer until Emma moved to Montreal.

"So are you going to college there?" Manny asked as the two walked down the school steps after school one day.

Emma nodded, "Yeah, and getting a job."

"But why? Em, you can stay another year! There is no reason to leave Toronto, to leave Degrassi."

Emma shrugged, "I just feel so…suffocated."

Manny laughed aloud, "Suffocated? Em, Toronto is one of the biggest cities in the _country_! How can you feel suffocated?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "I just have to, Manny."

Manny rolled her eyes right back at her, "Fine, I just think it's stupid. Besides, you're my best friend…what am I supposed to do without you?"

"You'll still have JT and Toby and Liberty…and Darcy, Chante…"

"But you're my _best_ friend Em! We've been friends since pre-school!"

"You can still visit Manny!" Emma exclaimed, "It's not the end of the world."

"What about Jack?" Manny asked.

Emma thought back to her baby brother, who was staying with Spike at the hospital.

"I'll visit Manny; I'm not cutting off my connections with my family!"

Manny shook her head, "I know…but what about Jay?"

Emma paused from her walk and sighed, "I don't know."

"Well I just heard 'I don't know' and my name said, what's up?" Jay asked, coming up behind the girls.

"I think I'm going to head out…see you later Em…bye Jay." Manny said before turning and jogging off towards her car.

"So you don't know what?" Jay asked.

Emma shook her head, "It's nothing." She noted as the two walked towards his Civic.

Jay rolled his eyes, "It's never nothing with you."

Emma placed her elbow against the window and stared out at the scenery known as Degrassi as he started the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.

-x-

The whole time she was helping him with his studies that day, her mind kept on going back to what Manny had said.

She hadn't really thought about it, the past five months that she had been hanging around Jay were some of the greatest; she had no clue what she would do when they had to split up.

_There is always email, phone calls…_

_**And visits! He can visit and of course you'll have to visit Toronto!**_

_Right! But…I am going to miss him._

_**Same here…**_

_Maybe I shouldn't leave, Manny's right, I could just stay here!_

_**Not an option.**_

_Why not?_

_**Just isn't.**_

_It is too!_

_**It is not.**_

_Is too!_

_**Is not!**_

_Is too!_

"Emma, hello!" Jay called out, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

Emma shook her head out of her daze and glanced up at him, smiling, "Sorry."

"What is going on with you today?" Jay asked.

Emma shrugged, "Nothing just-"

"Bullshit Emma. Something is going on."

Emma sighed before glancing down at her feet, "Manny asked me what was going to happen to us."

"What do you mean 'What's going to happen to us?'?"

"When I leave Toronto…what's going to happen to us?"

Jay was about to respond when he heard the phone ring.

Emma got up and went to answer it, "Hello?"

"Em, it's important." Manny's familiar voice said on the other line.

"What's going on?" Emma asked.

"Well...you know that one new Grade Eleven? Bryon?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He asked me out on a date." Manny stated.

Emma shrugged, "Okay…and?"

"I said yes and we're supposed to be going out at six and I don't know what I should wear? My peach cami with my white mini skirt or my…"

Emma tuned her out as she watched Jay sling his bag over his shoulder and wave at her, walking off out of the house.

"So what do you think?" Manny questioned.

Emma bit her lip, "Uh…sure."

"Sure what?" Manny asked.

"I don't know." Emma stated as she heard Jay's car starting outside.

She could tell Manny was getting slightly frustrated.

"Em, what's wrong?"

"I have to go." She said and clicked off the phone, tossing it onto the table before slipping on her Adidas tennis shoes and walking outside, but Jay's car was nowhere in site.

She sighed, thinking of the numerous places he could be.

_Let's see…his house._

_**Er…no.**_

_The mall?_

_**He doesn't seem to be in his stealing mood.**_

_Shut up. How about Towerz house?_

_**They don't talk too much anymore, what about in Wasaga?**_

_I don't think he went to Wasaga._

_**Just call his cell!**_

Emma fished around in the pocket of her jean skirt and pulled out her flip phone, punching in Jay's phone number.  
It rang once and then the machine came on, _"Sup? It's Jay. Here comes a beep, have fun with it."_

She sighed, "Hey Jay…it's me, Emma. Just wondering where you were. Talk to you later, love you bye." She flipped off her phone and put it back in her pocket.

_I got it!_

_**Where? **_

_The one place he hasn't been in a while, the place he doubts I'd look._

…_**the ravine.**_

**-x-**

**Yeah, I agree…it was pointless/rushed/crappy sorry! I got a slight writer's block during this chapter, but don't worry, hopefully the next one will be longer/better/oh and slightly romantic (well it _is _a romance fic).**

**Anyways, R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	22. In The Waiting Room

**AN: Hey guys…well I am pretty embarrassed about the fact that on my last chapter the shout outs were longer than the chapter itself (sorry!) and that it was a bit rushed…but I've been pretty overwhelmed that summer is officially coming to a close for me (tear, tear)…so forgive me if this chapter is slightly off as well! I promise I will be completely back to normal next chapter! Oh, and I've been pretty busy this week and haven't been able to update and then I got an author's block…sorry! I figured I would hang out with a few friends and go camping…big mistake…note to me, when going out on a boat and laying out…be sure to where sun screen on ALL places! I got burned horribly…anyways…lol, here are my shout outs:**

**-**

**fluffymello: **Jay is in grade twelve and Emma is in grade eleven…yeah, it's weird having a grade eleven tutor a grade twelve but yeah...lol. Thanks for the review!

**Plastic Strawberries: **Thanks! Yeah…sorry about the whole being rushed thing.  
**Melinda: **Emma's not really moving to Vancouver…Montreal yes, but not Vancouver…lol. And about the advancing years and sequel…you'll see! (Cue evil cackle) hehe…thanks!

**xXmannyXx: **Hey…I'll just say this for both of your reviews…I'm not saying anything about the not leaving thing and don't die on me! Lol…thanks for the review.

**Alchemy dream: **Thanks for understanding (I got into a horrible writer's block at the beginning of this story too…I knew one would show up once again!), and yes, Manny should have just worn the peach cami, lol. Here's an update, thanks for the review! Please. Keep. Reading. Lol.

**Sandy-Pandy: **Hmm…an SOR RPG? I may just have to join… (Rubs chin thoughtfully) Thanks for the review!

**Afamily123:** Here's more! Thanks for the review!

**Dfreak: **Well…here's Chapter 22…I will say that something _does_ happen between the couple but I didn't go into detail (sorry!). I'm glad you like this story (makes me feel fuzzy inside, lol)…lol. Thanks for the review!

**Castalma210: **Thanks for the review…where should I post that's strict? Sorry it didn't show any address. Glad you like this story!

**Thengrl13:** Thanks for congratulating me! Lol…thanks for the review.

**BlackOwl892006: **Bummer about being in a bad mood but that's awesome that an update from me cheered you up (blushes)! Thanks for the review!

**Linzer-B: **Hmm…he may convince…he may not…lol jk. And back to the UP2 front…eh I'm going to have to start rewriting it I think…so far, it blows. And about a MFH2…who knows! Lol…and about the song, it was pretty awesome and definitely eighties (which is awesome), thanks for the review and song!

**Crashetburn: **Hey you're right…he never did talk! Lol…well I'm sure he uttered a word or two around Liberty, hehe. Thanks for the review!

**Saraofthedead: **It made you sad? Aww…thanks for the review!

**Allie: **Don't worry, I can assure you that at the moment, they are not breaking up. Thanks for the review!

**Lena Le2006:** Thanks!

**Cutechica: **They won't break up! Yes, he shouldn't have left like that. Will Emma mess up? Hmm… You've got to love suspenseful stories! Lol…thanks for the review! P.S. Surprise! (lol jk)

**Queenie12:** You'll just have to wait and see what happens! Thanks for the review!

**PhantomPunkEvo: **Eh…yeah about the whole Vader/Bubbles thing…not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that…I just wanted to mention a hint of Dramione and I couldn't think of what to put beforehand. And speaking of my Dramione update…sorry! I get horrible writer's blocks and I definitely got one on that story! (And the HBP release didn't help much!) Thanks for the review!

**Tazitz: **Yeah, it was slightly plot-less, I agree. And about Draco and Hermione...me too! Yep, it would definitely turn heads. But the couple will probably wind up being old faithful…Ron and Hermione (which are okay, I became a bigger fan of the pairing during HBP but I still like Draco and Hermione better). Thanks for the review!

**Jackiee: **It reduced you to tears? Aww…that review made me fuzzy, thank you!

**Jamma fam: **Yep, they're my fave paring. Thanks for the review!

**Cenassolider4237754: **Thank you!

**Sethsduck17: **Yep, he's around 17 now. And yeah, he definitely didn't want to think about the following year. Yes, Emma is going back to the ravine (dun, dun, dun!)…and so is Jay (gasp…lol jk). Yeah, that does sound like Jay to say that, lol. I'd do a lot too, lol. And trust me, I ramble far more than you do (especially under pressure…not a pretty site, lol). Thanks for the review!

**HPDMfan05: **Jemma forever! Lol…thanks!

**And to everyone else: **Bridget N, chealsea, be11011, XxAnGeL02xX, Courtney, PrudencePiperHalliwell, Christii X, Idontknowanything, redkisses4yoo, Stephanie, barely alive, DegrassiGirlx3, yalissa, theocisforme, and Marisa**…sigh…you guys all make me feel so awesome! Thank you!**

**-**

**So anyways, here's Chapter 22!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 22**

**-x-**

Jay sat on the very familiar picnic table of the ravine, kicking off beer bottle shards that were splayed across the bench.

He hadn't been to this place (except for the time he got drunk) since everything happened with Emma, Alex, and Amy.

He regretted what happened, that was for sure.

Alex and Amy still talked to him, but it wasn't the same…he didn't think it ever would be.

And then there was Emma…Emma was different. Emma didn't want to give him the chance, but she let him try, she let him befriend her, she let him love her.

Jay took his hat off of his head and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh.

_What _is_ going to happen to us? She's leaving for Montreal and I'll still be here in Toronto._

_**She'll probably visit To-**_

His thoughts were cut short when he heard a rustling and the sound of feet stepping across tree branches and grass.

He looked up and saw Emma Nelson walking towards him.

Her blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail with loose strands falling in her face, her face slightly flushed, as if she had been running.

"Sorry." She said softly, walking towards the table and sitting down next to him.

Jay shook his head, "Its fine."

"You got out of there pretty fast." Emma stated.

"Yeah sorry…it just got me thinking about everything."

Emma paused, she knew what he was thinking…he wasn't ready for her to leave or he wasn't ready to think about it.

The two remained silent for what seemed like hours, but it really was just a matter of minutes until Jay broke the silence.

"Nothing is going to happen to us." Jay stated, reassuring himself.

Emma glanced at him, "Jay, I'll be in another part of the country."

"Hardly." Jay replied, "Ontario and Quebec aren't all that far apart."

Emma smirked, "Impressive, you are getting all that geography stuff."

Jay rolled his eyes, "What do _you_ think is going to happen to us?"

"I don't want us to break up." She murmured with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Why would we break up?" Jay asked.

"Jay, I wouldn't see you until Christmas!" Emma exclaimed.

"Then we'll see each other at Christmas. Besides, I have a car, it's not like I can't visit you."

Emma nodded, "I know but…" she could feel the tears brimming up in her eyes.

Jay watched her before putting his arm around her waist and pulling her towards him, letting her sob onto his shoulder.

Emma continued to sigh, sniffle, and snort before eventually looking up and around the ravine, wiping her eyes with her fingers.

Just then she noticed a very familiar item…the van.

"That's still here?" Emma asked.

Jay nodded, "It's like a memento at this place…not many people come to the ravine anymore but the van stays."

Emma nodded slightly, "I still remember coming here."

"You still think about that?" he asked.

Emma nodded again, "Yeah, sometimes."

"Me too."

"It was pretty stupid of me, to do that because of a stupid bracelet."

Jay shrugged, "It was stupid of me to choose you."

Emma's eyes widened at that and she stared at him blankly.

"No, no, not like that." Jay replied quickly, "I mean you were Emma 'Green Peace' Nelson…I should have known better than to do that to you. I still remember the night of that play in which you _completely_ blew me off. Something that doesn't usually happen to me, FYI."

Emma laughed, "Apparently someone had to deflate your ego."

Jay laughed slightly before the tension was slowly rising.

Emma glanced over her shoulder at the van once more.

_Oh my God…I know what you're thinking, quit thinking it._

_**I'm not thinking that.**_

_Well you have to be thinking that…I'm not._

_**Neither am I.**_

_Oh my God…do you think there's another one of us we don't know about?_

_**No clue, but somebody is thinking about-**_

_Yeah, I know._

_**Okay…maybe it is me.**_

_Me too._

"Wonder what the van still looks like inside." Emma muttered quietly.

Jay's head shot up and he looked over at her, "What?"

Emma shrugged, "Just wondering if it's still-"

"Fully anticlimactic?" Jay cut her short with a laugh.

Emma laughed and nodded.

"Probably still looks the same." Jay stated.

Emma nodded slightly and stared down at her tennis shoes.

_Don't do it…don't even let us have to think it._

_**I'm telling you as your brain, don't do this.**_

Emma got up from the table and walked towards the van, swinging open the door.

"Em…" Jay stated slowly, hopping off of the table and walking towards her, "What are you doing?"

"Just seeing if it is or isn't the same."

"It is." Jay noted, "I don't think it changes."

Emma nodded, "But the people who go inside the van do."

Jay glanced at her confusingly, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking your thinking?"

_Yes…sadly._

Emma bit her lip before pulling him into a quick kiss, which soon grew to a longer kiss, which quickly grew to the two of them climbing into the van and slamming the door shut behind themselves.

-x-

"I'll see you later." Emma said, giving Jay a chaste kiss on the cheek.

Jay nodded, "Alright, see you tomorrow."

"I love you." She said, climbing out of the car and backing away from here.

"Right back at you." He said with a slight smirk before beginning to pull out of the driveway, "Next time you see Jack tell him 'hi' for me." He added in.

"Okay, bye." She replied as he watched him pull the rest of the way out of the driveway and start off down the street, but not without a honk of his horn first.

She sighed to herself before turning and walking up her porch steps and into her house.

_I can't believe I did that._

_**I am growing up, ha-ha.**_

_Why did I do that? _

_**Will you relax?**_

_What if he expected it? I mean he _did_ have protection with him at the time._

_**Lots of guys carry condoms in their wallets, it's not that unknown.**_

_But it's like he just expected that we would have sex or something._

_**Just relax! **_

_I can't…_

Emma ran a hand through her hair before she heard the phone ring.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Emma…" her mom's frantic voice on the other line said frantically.

"Mom, what's wrong? Is dad okay?"

"It's not Snake…its Jack."

Emma paused for a moment, staring at the phone in disbelief, "…_what_?"

-x-

"He'll be alright; a lot of kids get tonsillitis." The doctor told them as they wheeled Jack away from the family on a hospital bed.

Spike paced around the waiting room worriedly as the doctor walked off towards surgery.

"Mom, it's just tonsillitis, it'll be okay." Emma stated.

Manny was sitting at her side, since she had shown up at Emma's house just seconds after the phone call, blowing off her date completely due to not being sure what to wear—both typical and untypical for Manny Santos.

"I had tonsillitis." Manny said, "I was three."

"Yeah and look at her now…she never shuts up _and_ she doesn't snore" Emma stated with a slight laugh.

Manny rolled her dark eyes at her.

"Jack will be okay, mom." Emma stated.

"I'm going to go check on Archie." Spike said before turning and walking towards the elevator.

"So what was with you on the phone earlier?" Manny asked.

Emma shrugged, "I was in a confusing conversation with Jay."

Manny nodded in understanding, "You guys work everything out?"

Emma nodded, thinking back to the incidents that had happened at the ravine not even an hour before, "Yeah, we're fine."

"Was it about what I asked earlier? About what would happen?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah, but its okay. I mean, I'll miss him but we'll be okay."

"I'll keep an eye on him for you." Manny stated with a jokingly wink.

The two continued their conversation for almost an hour before Emma retreated to picking up a magazine and flipping through the pages.

Manny sighed and glanced around the hospital, suddenly noticing someone familiar hurrying into the hospital, with Jay Hogart behind him.

"Oh my God…" Manny stated.

"What?" Emma asked, turning towards her.

Manny pointed slightly at the figure in question.

Emma glanced over and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God." She muttered.

Sean Cameron was back in Toronto.

-x-

Jay fell back onto his couch, grabbing the remote and beginning to flip through the channels boredly, finally settling on _The OC_, he didn't watch the show himself but he knew that a lot of girls in school did, which sounded bad, him watching a show a lot of girls did, but he didn't care. Nothing else was on.

He got through almost ten minutes of some body with curly brown hair lying on his bed with some toy horse before his phone rang, turning his attention away from the show.

"Hello?" he asked, answering the phone.

"Jay, it's me." A somewhat familiar voice said on the other line.

Jay glanced around confusingly, "Cameron?"

"Yeah, I'm back in Toronto but my brother's girlfriend is in labor here at this hospital and my parents went to the hospital after Tracker and left me at my old apartment."

"Yeah, I'll get you." Jay noted with an eye roll before snapping his phone shut and climbing up off of the couch, ignoring the old man on the television who had just fallen into the pool after clutching his heart.

-x-

"What are they doing here?" Emma asked hurriedly.

Manny shrugged and watched as Sean made his way towards the information desk.

Jay glanced around the hospital and then noticed Emma sitting with Manny in the waiting room.

He said something to Sean before walking over towards Emma and Manny and plopping down next to Emma.

"Hey." He murmured close by her ear.

Emma let out a slight laugh, she had recently discovered that she is very ticklish when it comes to whispering, or at least she was around Jay.

"Hey." She replied back, turning to him and smiling.

Jay smirked, "How are you feeling?"

Emma nodded, "Okay."

"What do you mean how is she feeling?" Manny asked curiously, leaning in.

Jay shook his head before turning back to Emma, "So what are you guys here for? Snake sick again?"

Emma was about to reply before she saw Spike hurrying back towards them.

"Hey girls…oh hello Jay." Spike said with a smile

"Sup Mrs. S?" Jay asked with a nod.

Emma rolled her eyes.

"How is Simpson?" Jay questioned, grabbing Emma's can of Pepsi that she had in her hand and taking a swig.

Spike nodded, "Oh he's fine, just in for a checkup."

"Oh…" Jay noted before turning to Emma, "So you two are here for your dad's checkup?"

Emma and Manny both shook their heads in unison.

Jay glanced at them confusingly before taking another swig out of the soda.

Just then a doctor appeared in the waiting room.

"Mrs. Simpson, the surgery went just fine and Jack is just now going to recovery." The doctor said with a smile.

Jay choked on his drink, part of the Pepsi spitting out of his mouth.

Emma patted him on the back as the doctor turned and walked away; Spike said something about going back up to tell Snake and walked off.

Jay wiped his hand over his mouth and glanced at Emma confusingly.

"_Jack_ was in _surgery_?" he asked.

Emma nodded, "Tonsillitis."

"Why didn't you call me?" he asked, just like a worried father would.

"Sorry Jay." Emma said sympathetically.

Jay smirked at her, "Its okay." He murmured as the two leaned in for a kiss.

"Oh my God." A male voice said from behind the pair.

Emma glanced over Jay's shoulder and saw Sean Cameron.

Emma squealed out his name and jumped up, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Good to see you too, Emma." Sean stated with a laugh, patting her on the back.

Emma broke away and smiled at him, "So what are you doing here?"

"Long story." He stated before turning towards Jay and nodding from Emma to him and back again, "Care to explain?"

-x-

Sean simply stared at the couple as Emma sat on Jay's lap and leaned against his chest, Jay was murmuring something in her ear and she kept on giggling.

_That is just wrong, he's my best friend, she's my ex girlfriend, last I checked they _hated_ each other. _He thought bitterly to himself.

They had told him everything but it was still hard for him to believe that Jay Hogart and Emma Nelson would be together.

Manny glanced up at him and laughed when she noticed that he was continuously staring at the couple.

Moments later a piece of paper appeared in his lap.

_Passing notes, eh? _Sean thought and chuckled to himself, unfolding the note and revealing the petite and curvy writing style of Manuela Santos.

_Shawn _(she had spelled his name wrong, how thoughtful)_, are you jealous of Emma and Jay? –Manny_

Sean shook his head and she tossed him a _pink_ gel pen…because he loved pink so much.

_NO! Not jealous of that couple, I broke things off with Emma anyway, besides we're on good terms now. I've moved on. –Sean (the _proper_ spelling)_

He tossed the note back to Manny and she read it over before looking up and rolling her eyes at him.

It seemed like hours drug on while the four of them all sat around the waiting room.

Sean glanced up and saw Tracker walking towards him, "I'm a dad."

Emma's eyes widened and she looked up at him, "Really? That's awesome!" Emma exclaimed.

"Emma Nelson sitting on the lap of Jay Hogart…that's not something you see everyday." He muttered with a laugh before turning to Sean, "Do you want to see your niece?"

Sean nodded and got up.

"I want to see the baby." Manny shot out, getting up as well.

Tracker nodded and then turned to Emma and Jay.

"My brother's going to be getting out of recovery in a bit, I better stay here." Emma stated before turning her head to Jay, "But you can go."

Jay shook his head, "I will later, though." He said and looked up at Tracker, Sean, and Manny.

Sean shrugged before he and Manny walked off, Tracker following closely behind.

Jay planted a kiss on Emma's cheek.

"You don't have any second thoughts do you?" Emma asked.

"About what?" Jay asked confusingly.

Emma sighed, "About earlier."

She felt Jay shake his head against her shoulder, "No. Why would I?"

"I don't know. A lot of guys do."

"I'm not a lot of guys, I'm one guy." Jay stated firmly.

Emma rolled her eyes, "So you're not going to dump me now and run off towards the next girl…?"

Jay chuckled, "Uh…no."

Emma smiled slightly and then watched as Spike hurried out of the elevator.

"Have the doctors shown up again?" she asked.

Emma shook her head, "No."

"But you missed Sean." Jay stated.

"Sean?" Spike asked confusingly.

Emma nodded, "His brother's girlfriend had a baby."

Spike smiled, "That's nice. How is he doing? Is he coming back to Degrassi?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know if he'd want to come back to Degrassi. Even though he did save a life he also lost one."

Jay rolled his eyes, "I go to Degrassi, I'm doing fine."

Emma laughed, "Yeah hardly."

"Oh thanks for that." Jay muttered sarcastically.

"I'm going to go see if we can visit Jack yet." Spike said and rushed off towards the information desk.

"She just keeps coming and going." Jay stated with a laugh.

Emma nodded before sighing and leaning her head against his shoulder, "What would I do without you?"

Jay sighed, "Be miserable and single once more."

"Gee thanks Jay." Emma stated with a laugh and an eye roll.

Spike once more returned to the couple, "Are you two wanting to visit Jack?"

"Yes." Jay answered right away.

Emma laughed and got up off of his lap, lacing three of her fingers through three of his as they walked off towards the elevator.

-x-

Jack sat in one of the chairs, glancing around the hospital before back at the tiny three year old resting in the hospital bed, his eyes closed and breathing soft.

"Hey Jack Attack." He murmured quietly.

Emma leaned towards his ear with a smile on her face, "You realize you're talking to a sleeping toddler right?"

Jay turned towards her and rolled his eyes, "_Yes I realize I'm talking to a sleeping toddler_." He mimicked.

Emma laughed before she noticed Jack's small eyelids pop open.

"Jay!" he mouthed excitedly.

"Hey Jack Attack!" he exclaimed aloud.

"How are you feeling sweetie?" Spike asked worriedly, rushing to the tike's side.

Jack placed his hand over his throat and mouthed, "I can't talk."

"You can't talk?" Jay asked.

Jack shook his head.

"Don't worry, that's natural…he should be talking by tomorrow or the day after." the nurse stated, walking into the room to check on Jack.

"When can he leave?" Emma asked.

"Later tonight or tomorrow morning." She replied.

Jay glanced over at Jack who stared at him with his puppy dog eyes, "I'm pulling for tonight." He stated firmly, "That way we can have ice cream."

At the sound of that Jack nodded and clapped his hands together.

The nurse laughed before beginning to walk out of the room, "I'll get the release papers."

-x-

"You're acting like you're his dad…I hope you realize." Emma muttered as the two of them walked towards his car.

Manny had caught a ride with Sean and Tracker and Spike was still at the hospital letting Jack visit Snake.

Jay shrugged, "He's a cute kid, I care about him like he's my brother."

Emma leaned her head against his shoulder for a second before climbing into the car.

Jay turned on the stereo and some rock group began to blast through the speakers as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"I have a feeling that your mom and Jack are gonna be at the hospital for a while so in the meantime, want to grab a root beer?" he questioned glancing over at her.

Emma smirked, "Sure."

Maybe tomorrow she would actually comprehend everything that had happened at the ravine…but for now it was just about her and Jay together, with no worries to be held.

-x-

**Yes…the last few parts were pretty lame and corny (that is where I started getting my author's block)…sorry! I will be getting back on track but right now I am so overwhelmed that school is starting in less than a week (I am _not_ ready to be waking up at seven in the morning—seeing as if I have been nothing but a bum this summer)…sigh…oh man I need to stop thinking about that!**

**Anyways, hope you liked the chapter!**

**R&R and please…no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	23. Caps and Gowns

**AN: Hey everyone! Wow…thanks for the reviews (once more), I know the last two chapters have been pretty out of it so I took a slight break from writing this one to clear my head of all worries of school (which has now started, sadly…but at least the first two days are over…I actually had this chapter done a few days ago but I forgot all about it, I couldn't get any sleep the night before school started, so I feel asleep at 3 AM and then woke up at 7 for school…very sad indeed).**

**Later on in this chapter, Ms. H is mentioned, sorry but I don't know how to spell her name so it more than likely is spelled wrong! **

**Anyways, here's Chapter 23…hope you like!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**P.S. Has anybody seen Miriam McDonald (Emma) in the Lifetime Movie _She's Too Young_? I was watching it with a friend of mine earlier; she was pretty good in it…true she once again had an STD caused from oral sex but…oh well. **

**-x-**

**Chapter 23**

**-x-**

Emma leaned her back against the headboard of her bed, her eyes closed and humming along to The All-American Reject's _Stab My Back_, trying to clear all thoughts and worries of graduation…and still trying to decide whether or not her parents were aware she wouldn't be living with them the following year.

_And every time he held you close…_

_Were you thinking of me?_

She immediately thought of Jay and Alex's previous relationship, true the song mentioned a 'he' but she had replaced it to 'she' and wondered the same thing.

"Emma!" Dinner's ready!" Spike called down the stairs.

Emma removed her headphones and turned off her portable CD player, sitting it on her bed before swinging her legs over the side and slowly dragging herself up the stairs.

Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing a red tee shirt and a pair of white pajama pants with red hearts on them and a pair of rainbow colored socks.

She entered the living room and saw Jack in his high chair and Spike and Snake sitting at the table.

"What's for dinner?" she asked, sitting at the table.

Snake leaned down and brought a brown paper bag back up with him.

"Take out…we got you lo mein noodles and egg rolls just like you like…" Snake said and pulled out two take out containers and handing them to her.

"Thanks…" she said with a slight smile and opening the containers.

"So…" Spike started, "are you planning on going to Jay's graduation next week?"

_They don't know…_

_**Great…just great…**_

"Uh…yeah…about that-"

Just then the phone rang.

"Hold that thought…" Spike stated before getting up and walking to the phone, answering with a cheery "Hello?"

Emma twirled her chopsticks around in her container and watched as Jack stared determinedly at his chicken on a stick, as if trying to figure out how to get it off of the stick.

Snake eventually leaned over and removed it, cutting up into small pieces for him.

"Thanks daddy." Jack said giddily with a smile on his small lips.

"That is great!" Spike exclaimed enthusiastically over the phone, "Yes…yes…I'm telling him right now. Thank you so much, Dr. Greenly, goodbye."

Emma glanced at her confusingly as she made her way back to the table and sat down, "What was that all about?"

Spike smiled up at Snake happily, "You're in remission."

Snake's eyes widened, as did Emma's.

"What?" both asked in unison.

Spike nodded, "It's true. They got your blood tests back."

Snake smiled and pulled Spike into a hug before giving Jack and Emma big smiles.

Spike turned to Emma with a smile, "Now honey what were you going to say?"

Emma glanced around at her family before shaking her head, she couldn't tell them _now_, not when they were so happy, "Sorry I forgot what I was going to say. I'm really happy for you dad." She said and turned to Snake with a smile planted on her lips.

-x-

"You haven't told them?" Manny exclaimed over the phone the next afternoon.

"I haven't gotten around to it yet…" Emma drifted.

"Emma, graduation is in a _week_!"

Emma rolled her eyes, "I know Manny."

"Well you have to tell them." Manny stated firmly.

"I _know_ Manny." Emma drawled.

"Are they going to it even?" Manny asked.

Emma sighed, "Yeah, Snake wants to watch his old class graduate."

"And his daughter apparently." Manny added in, a smirk coming through her voice.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Yeah I guess."

"So when are you going to tell them?" Manny asked.

Emma sat up in her bed quickly, "Manny I don't know!" she exclaimed.

Manny laughed through the phone, "Alright, alright."

Emma sighed and leaned back on the bed, "Tonight."

-x-

That night wasn't good either, due to Snake's good news, Spike had invited Joey, Caitlin, Craig, and Angela over for dinner.

"This is great chicken Christine." Snake stated with a smile, placing his fork in his mouth.

"Thanks Archie." Spike said with a smile, "So, Craig…how's school going?" she asked, turning to the brunette.  
Craig shrugged, "Normal…everybody's pretty pumped about graduation. I'm betting Emma is."

Emma kicked him under the table.

Craig's eyes widened and his mouth formed an O.

"Is Jay staying in town?" Caitlin asked turning towards Emma.

Emma nodded.

"But you're not, right Emma?" Angela asked.

Emma's eyes widened and Craig turned to Angela, "How did you know?" he asked in a whisper.

"I heard you and Jimmy talking about the people graduating over the phone." Angela stated factually.

"You bugged my phone?" he asked.

Angela giggled and nodded.

"Well Emma was planning on going to University of Montreal after graduation but that's not for over a year Angie." Spike said with a smile.  
Emma sighed.

_Might as well just do it right now._

_**Yup.**_

"Actually…" Emma stated, sitting her napkin that she had been dabbing her mouth with down on the table, "I'm um…I'm graduating early."

Snake's fork dropped, "What?"

"Honey why didn't you tell us?" Spike asked worriedly, turning towards her daughter.

Emma nodded, "I did, way back in October."

"I don't remember that, Emma. We need to talk about this." Spike said.

Emma shrugged, "There's really nothing to talk about. I'm graduating early and moving to Montreal this summer. That's why I was tutoring Jay, to get the money for it."

Spike's face held an expression as if her heart was slowly breaking, "Emma…honey…"

Emma scooted her chair back and got up, turning on her heel and walking out of the kitchen and towards the basement.

"I'll go talk to her…" Snake said, slowly getting up.

Craig shook his head, "I will." He stated and got up, following her downstairs.

-x-

"Mom, I don't want to talk about it right now!" Emma exclaimed, her head buried under her pillows, lying on her stomach.

"Well you don't have to worry about that, it's Craig." Craig stated, walking into her room and sitting at the foot of her bed, "I remember this room."

Emma scoffed, "Don't bring that back up."

"Why are you moving?" Craig asked.

Emma lifted her head up, sending pillows flying before she turned to glance at Craig, mascara ran down her cheeks leaving black streaks, "Because I just can't stand it here!"

Craig rolled his eyes, "So you're just running away from your problems?"

Emma shrugged, "All I know is Toronto, I need to get out."

"We've been to Stouffville." Craig noted offensively, "And I know you've been to Wasaga Beach."

Emma rolled her eyes, "I've already been accepted at the University of Montreal. I'm sharing an apartment with some freshmen there, and I'm going to get a job and leave Toronto just in the past."

"What about Jay?" Craig asked.

Emma sniffled, "I wasn't planning on Jay when I decided all of this."

"And now…?"

"And now it's too late to change my mind and even if I still could I wouldn't."

"But you love him…right?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah but I'll keep in touch. This is just something I have to do for me."

Craig sighed, "Well…I guess it's up to you."

Emma nodded once more.

"Well when in doubt you can confront Craig." He said with a smile and nudged her shoulder with her hand.

"Or us." Two other voices said.

Emma glanced up and saw Spike and Snake standing at the foot of the stairs.

Emma jumped up from her bed and ran towards them, pulling them into a hug, "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Snake patted her back, "It's okay, I just wish we would have listened earlier."

"I'm sorry Emma." Spike whispered as well, hugging her tighter as Emma cried onto her shoulder.

-x-

"So how'd they take it?" Jay asked as the two of them sat in his Civic the following day.

Emma shrugged, "Okay I guess. I mean they're not the happiest people in the world right now but…"

"I can't believe I'm graduating in less than a week." Jay said, wide eyed.

"Well so am I." Emma stated and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Jay nodded, "Yeah, but I'll hardly see you this summer, when are you leaving."

"July first." Emma stated.

Jay sighed and leaned his head against his head rest, the two remaining silent for a short amount of time.

Jay looked down at her blonde head, "You know I'll miss you right?"

Emma nodded against his shoulder, "Yeah…"

"And you know I love you right?"

Emma nodded once more, "Yeah."

-x-

Ms. Hatzakolos called off the names as they stood in the auditorium.

"Hazel Aden." She said with a smile on her face as Hazel stood up to the stage and accepted her diploma, smiling genuinely.

She went through the rest of the list, naming a sort of students before landing on Jason Hogart.

Emma clapped loudly from where she sat sandwiched between Ellie Nash and Amy Olsen, who was continuously shooting her dirty looks.

Suddenly it was as if Ms. H just zoomed through Craig, Spinner, Paige and Ellie's names and suddenly landed on Emma Nelson.

Emma stood up and walked towards the stage, glancing back at all of her friends standing in the audience cheering, she saw Manny, Toby, Liberty, and JT all clapping and smiling at her.

Emma walked up on the stage, smiling at Ms. H who whispered 'good luck' in her ear before she smiled for the camera, hugged Ms. Hatzakolos and made her way back down the stage steps, smiling at Jay who's facial expression was nothing but happiness for her.

-

"I now present to you Degrassi Community School's _Class of 2006_!" Ms. H exclaimed as all the students tossed their hats into the air.

As soon as Emma tossed hers she spun around and saw Jay standing right behind her, tossing a cap into her hand.

Emma glanced at him confusingly.

Jay rolled his eyes, "Consider it a souvenir." He stated.

Emma laughed before leaning down and grabbing hers, tossing it at him.

"There have one for yourself." She said with a smile.

"Emma!" voices shouted from behind.  
Emma spun around and saw Manny, JT, Liberty, and Toby running towards her and all grabbing her into one big giant hug.

"Hey guys…" she said, her voice wheezing from lack of breath.  
They let go of her and all beamed at her with happiness on their face.

Emma smiled right back at them.

"How fair is it that she got to graduate before us?" JT asked, "I mean seriously, oh these hollow halls of stone-"

"-make me want to dial home." Manny, Emma, Toby, and Liberty all finished for him.

JT rolled his eyes, "Well fine."

"Remember, we're throwing a party in your honor tonight at my place." Manny stated, grinning, "So be there around six."

Emma nodded, "Alright I'll be there."

"It's just a close party…" Toby stated, glancing over at Jay warningly.

Manny slugged his arm, "You can come too if you want Jay, Sean will be there."

"Because he will love to see his ex with his best friend." Toby noted.

Manny rolled her eyes, "He's moved on."

"Guys, I'll see you tonight, okay?" Emma answered.

Manny nodded, "Sure. See you. C'mon guys." She said and turned walking off, the others following closely behind.

Emma spun around and walked back towards Jay, smiling at him, "So are you going to come?"

Jay sighed, "If I have to."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Well you don't _have _too…I'll just hang out with my friends."

Jay nodded, "My mom wanted to take me out to dinner anyway, with my dad and my uncle."

Emma smiled, "Sounds fun."

Jay nodded before turning and seeing Mrs. Hogart smiling at him, he turned back to Emma quickly, "So I'll call you tomorrow or something, okay?"

Emma nodded, "Okay." she stated before placing a small peck on his lips before she watched him take off.

Just then she felt two arms wrap around her waist, she turned and saw Snake smiling at her.

Emma hugged him back.

"I'm so proud of you." He stated into her hair.

"We both are." Spike said with a smile, coming up behind Snake.

Emma grinned and nodded, "Thanks."

"So I was thinking we could go out for a graduation lunch, how does that sound?" Snake suggested.

Emma smiled, "That sounds great."

-x-

The four Simpson-Nelson's all sat around a nice restaurant in downtown Toronto, accompanied by JT and Manny who Spike had asked to come along.

"No, no, no Jack…you do it like _this_." JT stated to the young boy, he ripped off the top part of the straw wrapper and placed it to his lips before blowing.

The paper from the wrapper flew straight into Manny's hair.

Manny took it off and ripped it up, setting it aside, "We can't take him anywhere nice can we?" she joked with a laugh.

Spike laughed along with her, "Certainly not."

JT rolled his eyes, "Well thanks, I see how much I'm wanted."

Emma laughed, "We love you anyways JT."

"Aw thanks, that makes me feel better." He scoffed sarcastically.

Manny glanced over at Emma, "So when are you leaving?"

"July." Emma responded.

Snake smiled at her softly, "We're gonna miss having you around."

_You're barely even around._

_**Be nice! He's in remission.**_

_I wasn't trying to be mean_.

"I'll miss you guys too, but don't worry I'll call and visit a lot." Emma reassured.

Spike sighed, "It still won't be the same honey."

Emma nodded, "I know."

-x-

A few hours later, Emma could be found on the doorstep of the Santos residence, ringing the doorbell.

The door swung open and she was face to face with Sean.

"Hey Em." Sean acknowledged coolly, holding the door open for her so she could step inside.

_Night Drive_ by The All-American Rejects was blasting through the speakers and she saw tons of students from Degrassi dancing around the living room.

"Hey Em!" Manny exclaimed, running over to her.

She was wearing a brown conductor cap, a white asymmetrical top with one long sleeve, leaving her other shoulder bare, a pair of brown flip flops and a brown and tan pinstriped skirt while Emma was in a cyan tank top with a white jacket over it that fell to her chest bone and a white skirt along with plain white sneakers and her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Hey." Emma responded with a smile as Manny led her over towards her friends.

"Is Jay coming?" Manny asked over the music.

Emma shook her head, "He already had plans."

Manny eyed her suspiciously.

"With his mom." She finished.

Manny's face softened a bit.

"Well don't worry, there are tons of people here to hang out with." She stated, gesturing around the room.

Emma saw people from grades ten and eleven, but none from grade twelve, they more than likely had their own parties to attend.

"Did you go to anyone else's party after lunch?" Emma asked.

Manny nodded, "I stopped by Hazel's, Jimmy's, Marco's and then over to Paige's."

Emma nodded, "Thanks for throwing this party for me, Manny."

Manny grinned at her and pulled her into a hug, "You're my best friend, what'd you expect me to do? Just sit around? Uh…no, I don't think so. But besides, this isn't just my doing either, JT, Toby, and Liberty helped."

"Remind me to thank them later." Emma said with a smile as she bobbed her head along to the music which had now changed to _Jerk it Out _by Caesar.

"I will." Manny stated with a smile, "But for now, we've gotta dance." She said and looped her arm through Emma's.

The two walked towards the dance floor and joined up with JT, Toby, Liberty and Darcy.

-x-

Emma stepped through the front door of her house around one in the morning. She made her way down the hallway and to the basement door, slipping off her shoes and carrying them in her hands, stepping down each step lightly, hoping to not wake anybody up.

She entered her bedroom and tossed the shoes onto the floor before flopping down on her bed and sighing.

She was excited about Montreal, but not excited about anything else about it.

After tonight she had realized she had some of the best friends in the world and she didn't want to lose them. She didn't want to leave her family behind. She didn't want to leave Jay behind.

Just then she noticed an envelope on her bed.

She opened it up and pulled out a paper, reading over the handwriting.

_Hey Emma…my name is Lanie; I'm going to be your new roommate here in Montreal. Just figured I'd give you all of my address info and such so you would know where to find me once you got here. I'm on 1515 Gerard Place, it's a tall brick townhouse style apartment and I'm on the second floor room 213. I'll see you in a month!_

_-Lanie_

Emma sighed and sat it down, that letter had just made everything more realistic than it already was.

-x-

**Okay so what'd you think?**

**Once again, sorry I can't give out the shout outs…sorry! But you all know that I love your reviews so much and that I thank each of you with gratitude and an imaginary Godiva chocolate bar (Godiva…sigh…good stuff, lol).**

**Thanks so much!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	24. Goodbyes and Greetings

**AN: Apologies, apologies, apologies! I am so sorry for these long updates…and that this story has been slightly off recently!**

**I was pretty nervous about school starting but now that we almost it, I'm getting better. It doesn't help much that I don't get home until 5:30 due to volleyball practice but still, sorry! **

**Since FF is allowing shout outs anymore, if you have any questions feel free to email me and ask them (my email address is on my profile), once again, so sorry for the slow updates!**

**On a different note, I just got The Click Five's CD and wow…it is so good! I love every single song on it! Lol…yes, that had no purpose but oh well, hehe. **

**Once again, beyond sorry for the long update! I feel so bad!**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 24**

**-x-**

Emma's eyes slowly fluttered open as the sun shone and hit her face.

She noticed that Lanie's letter was still in her hand and she was still dressed in her outfit from last night.

She got up and stumbled groggily towards the shower.

-x-

"Emma! Jay's here!" Spike called down the stairs almost an hour later.

Emma was now sitting at her computer desk, her hair now had mousse in it and was scrunched up, sending waves down her shoulders and she was wearing a pair of simple flared blue jeans and a maroon tee shirt and socks on her cold feet.

She hurried up the stairs and smiled at Jay who was in the kitchen.

"Hey." She said with a smile, walking towards him.

"Did you get the letter?" Spike asked from where she was feeding Jack.

Emma nodded.

"What letter?" Jay asked confusingly.

"From Lanie, she's my new roommate." She said with a smile, "C'mon." she said and took his hand, guiding him downstairs.

-x-

"So this is really happening." Jay stated, sitting at the foot of her bed.

Emma sat in her computer chair, one of her knees hugged up to her chest, her foot resting on the seat, "Yep…"

"Well you've still got a month here anyway."

Emma nodded, "Yep."

"You okay?" he asked.

Emma nodded once more, "Yeah, why?"

"You seem upset…"

"I'm not."

"You're lying."

"I am not."

"You are too. You can't trick me."

Emma sighed, "Everything just seems so real now, you know?"

Jay nodded, "Yeah, I know."

"I'm going to miss you." Emma said softly.

Jay smirked and took off his hat, placing it on her head before getting up and placing a kiss on her forehead and walking upstairs, but not before telling her, "I'll miss you too."

-x-

Emma sat on her porch swing a few weeks later, reading the latest letter that Lanie had sent her.

_Emma…can't wait for you to get here! I'll meet you in front of the apartment at noon on Saturday the first. Can't wait!_

_-Lane_

She sighed and folded it up, placing it in her jeans pocket.

"Emma? Are you ready to go?" Spike asked, beginning to walk down the stairs of the porch, towards the car.

Emma sniffled and nodded, hopping down and beginning to walk down the steps as well before turning and looking back at her old house.

Snake placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as the three of them, along with Jack who was holding Emma's hand, and Manny, who had come along to see her best friend off, made their way to the car.

Emma climbed into the middle row of seats in their SUV, Manny in the middle and Jack sitting next to her in his car seat while all of her luggage was piled in back.

Snake glanced back before slowly pulling out of the driveway.

She sighed and glanced out the window, noticing a familiar Civic on the other side of the street, Jay's Civic.

Jay glanced over at her from his open window and gave her a playful smirk.

Emma could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she waved at him before turning away and bowing her head.

Jack had been glancing over as well and began to squeal when he saw Jay, "Jay!" he exclaimed, "Let's stop!"

Jay gave Jack a wave and another heartwarming smirk to Emma.

"Stop the car!" Emma exclaimed, not being able to take it anymore.

Snake stopped almost suddenly.

Emma hopped out of the seat and raced towards Jay's car while he climbed out of his as well.

As soon as he came into perfectly clear view, she flung her arms around him and began to cry onto his chest, "I'm going to miss you so much." She cried softly.

Jay wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, "I'm going to miss you too." he whispered into her hair.

"I don't think I want to leave, I want to stay here." Emma mumbled into his tee shirt.

Jay broke away from her and glanced down at the blonde, "No…you have to go. You wanted to get out of Toronto; this is your chance Em. You can leave; we'll still see each other sometimes. I promise you."

Emma shook her head, "I can't go, Jay. I love you. I know I've said that before, but I really, really mean it Jay. I love you and I don't want to leave you."

"This is hard for me too Em, but-"

"See? I can't go!" Emma exclaimed.

"_But_…" Jay started once more, "you have to leave…Lanie might be upset."

Emma rolled her eyes at him, "Not funny, Jay."

Jay shook his head, "You know I'm kidding. But you know I love you Em, you know I'm going to miss you; you know I don't_ want_ you to leave, but you have to. This is right for you."

Emma sniffled before pulling him into another hug, "I love you Jay." She whispered.

Jay, for once in his life, had to fight back tears as he hugged her back.

-x-

Emma sat in the car, her headphones blasting to the song _Until the Day I Die_ by Story of the Year.

She was continuously glancing over at Manny, who was making funny faces with Jack.

She sighed and stared out the window at the passing scenery.

Soon enough, they arrived in front of the apartment in Montreal.

Emma and Manny hopped out and opened up the trunk, taking out her bags and room decorations.

"You must be Emma." A voice said happily.

Emma spun around and was face to face with a tall and slender girl with pixie cut light brown hair, tan skin, a big smile, and bright green eyes; she resembled a cheerleader on so many levels.

"I'm Lanie." She said happily, holding out her hand.

Yep, she sounded like one too.

"Emma…" Emma replied coolly, holding out her hand as well, the two shaking.

Lanie smiled at her once more before walking towards her parents and beginning to talk with them.

Emma slung her duffle bag over her shoulder and Manny hauled a few boxes towards the apartment.

They walked towards the elevator and Emma pressed in the floor button, her heart beating rapidly, this was her life now.

-x-

"Well it sure is…bright." Manny stated, glancing around the retro-esqe apartment.

The walls were painted orange, the floor was polished wood with white shag carpeting, the couch was bright blue, the plush chairs were white, the window seating in the living area had a lime green cover on it and the kitchen was white with different colored appliances on it.

Emma walked off down the hallway and glanced at the two bedrooms, one was already decorated in bright colors and the other was plain white, the white one was obviously her bedroom. She stepped inside and glanced around it before flopping onto the twin bed and sighing.

"You can decorate at least…" Manny drifted, walking into the room as well.

Emma nodded glumly.

"Already having regrets?" Manny asked nervously.

Emma nodded once more.

Manny sat down next to her at the foot of the bed, "Don't worry, Em. It'll be fine."

"How can you say that Manny?" Emma mumbled, "Everything already isn't fine. I was so stupid to actually want to graduate early."

Manny shook her brunette head, "You weren't stupid; you were suffocating in that place."

"What about Jay?" Emma asked.

Manny laughed, "He's not going anywhere, Em."

"That's not what I mean. What if he finds someone else?"

Manny rolled her eyes, "Then he's an asshole."

"Manny!"

"Relax, Em. He probably won't find anybody else. I mean who would actually want to date Jay? Besides you, I mean."

"Shut up."

Manny sighed and reached into one of the boxes, pulling out two things that she had put in them earlier and sitting them on Emma's lap.

Emma glanced down and saw two picture frames.

She picked up the first one, it was of her, Manny, JT, and Toby at Emma's party, each had their arms swung over one another and they were all smiling and laughing, the other one made Emma's heart stop for a few seconds.

It was of her and Jay from New Years Eve, it was the kiss.

"Oh my God…" Emma murmured, glancing at the frame.

Her arms were swung over his neck and both had their eyes closed, the frame read _2Gether, 4Ever_ and made her tear up.

"Manny!" Emma exclaimed sadly.

Manny laughed, "This was supposed to make you happy!" she cried out, putting her arms around her.

Emma cried onto her shoulder, "I'm going to miss you."

Manny sighed and hugged her back, "I'm going to miss you too."

-x-

"So are you going to be okay?" Snake asked as he and Spike stood at the doorway of Emma and Lanie's apartment.

Emma nodded and rubbed her hands over her eyes, wiping away the last bit of tears, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Spike's eyes welled up with tears as she pulled her daughter into a hug, "I love you baby."

Emma hugged her back and sighed, "I love you too mom."

Then the exact same ritual happened with Snake.

The two broke apart and then Emma glanced over at Jack, who was eying her sadly.

"What's happening, Emmy?" he asked nervously.

Emma could feel tears welling up in her eyes once more as she scooped up her brother and hugged him tightly, "I love you Jack." She murmured into his hair.

"I love you too!" he squealed as she broke away from him and gave him a peck on his temple and handed him to her parents.

"We love you Emma." Snake said softly.

Emma sniffled, "I love you too." she stated quietly as the three walked away.

Manny remained at the door before grabbing Emma into a hug, telling her goodbye and walking away.

-x-

"Close family." Lanie declared, flopping down onto the couch.

Emma shrugged, "Not too much. My dad had cancer."

Lanie's eyes widened, "Oh…my God…I'm sorry."

Emma shook her head, "It's okay, he's in remission now."

Lanie sighed, "Well that's good news."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, he gets in remission and then I tell him I'm leaving, perfect huh?"

Lanie laughed, "My parents freaked out when I told them I was leaving."

"Didn't they already know?" Emma asked confusingly.

"Well yeah, but it still freaked them out." Lanie confirmed.

Emma laughed, "My mom didn't even remember me telling her, I mean, it's not like I can very well blame her but still…"

Lanie nodded in understanding before changing the subject, "So hey, I was in your room for a second and I saw this really hot guy in a picture with you, there were two, one of you guys kissing and the other of you two smiling."

Emma's heart lurched, Jay. She missed him more than both of her parents right now.

Emma nodded, "Yeah…that's my boyfriend, Jay."

Lanie grinned, "He's gorgeous. What does he fall in to? Is he a bad boy, prep?"

Emma almost laughed aloud at the sound of 'prep', "He's more of a bad boy. We actually used to hate each other."

"Those are usually the best romance stories."

Emma nodded, "Yeah well, back in grade nine, I had this boyfriend, Sean. And he started hanging around with Jay and his crowd, and I just _hated_ them so much, they stole, they had sex, they just did everything. Plus, they broke Sean and me up. Then in grade ten, we had a school shooting and Sean saved my life but got shot in the arm during the process. So he wanted us to take him home, to his hometown. So it was me, Jay, Sean, and Sean's girlfriend, Ellie-"

"So you guys got together during the trip?" Lanie intercepted confusingly.

Emma shook her head, "So anyway, we all hung out that day but I still didn't like Jay. But then later on that year, I was under all this stress and we wound up having oral sex…and I got an STD from it."

Lanie's eyes widened, "Holy…"

Emma nodded, "And then this year, I was really wanting to graduate early so I offered to tutor Jay to help pay for college. And during the process, I fell pretty hard for him."

Lanie's eyes were getting teary and she looked like she was about to choke up, "That is…_so _romantic!"

Emma laughed, "He's a really cool guy, Jay…as long as you get past the rough texture."

Lanie smiled, "That's really cool. My boyfriend Brad and I don't have anywhere _near_ as romantic of a story. We went to junior high together, he moved, we met back up in college last year, started dating a few months later."

Emma shrugged, "Still slightly romantic."

Lanie sighed, "So, moving on…first night here, what do you want to eat? Dinner's on me."

-x-

"So how is it?" Jay asked later on that night over the phone.

Emma fell onto her bed and sighed, "It's okay…but I really miss you, Jay."

"I miss you too, Em." Jay reassured, "I actually went to your house a few hours ago and hung around with Jack for a bit, then stayed for dinner."

Emma's eyes widened, "You stayed for dinner with my _parents_?"

Jay chuckled slightly, "Yeah, quite entertaining actually, Jack started flinging food."

Emma laughed, "I miss you Jay."

"You already said that." Jay laughed, "But it's nice to hear it again."

Emma smiled into the phone before beginning to listen to some conversation Jay was saying.

She glanced over at the other picture of her and Jay; it was from when he had been at her house one time earlier that month. Manny had been over as well and had captured a picture of Emma and Jay sitting on her bed fighting over Jay's hat, both had laughing smiles on their face but neither were looking at the camera, it was one of Emma's favorite pictures.

Emma continued to listen to Jay's deep voice, not caring if he talked about robbing a bank for the next twenty-four hours, as long as she could hear his voice, she was happy.

-x-

"Hey Emma, get up!" Lanie shouted the next morning.

Emma's eyes flew open and she glanced up at her clock, 6 AM.

_What the hell?_

_**Wow! An early bird!**_

_Oh cram it!_

Emma got up and stumbled into the living area where Lanie was in a white sports bra and pink track pants with a Tae Bo DVD playing.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Lanie chirped, not even looking away from the television.

"Lanie, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or if my clock is set wrong or what, but it is _barely_ six in the morning." Emma noted, glancing outside, where it was still gray out.

Lanie nodded and began to lift her legs up and down, throwing punches to the air, "Yeah, I know. I figured I'd let you rest, I'm always up and going at five."  
Emma sat down on the couch, "Are you serious?"

Lanie nodded and continued to practice the kickboxing-like aerobics.

"_Five_ AM?"

Lanie nodded once again, "Get up, get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair, make protein shake, do Tae Bo for an hour, shower, get dressed once again."

Emma's eyes widened at the sound of that, "Oh…"

"What's your schedule like?" Lanie asked.

Emma sighed, "Well during the _summer_, it's pretty much sleep in, eat breakfast, shower, brush my teeth and hair, put on a new pair of pajamas and lounge around the house or hang out with Jay or my friends."

Lanie glanced back at her for a split second, "Where do you fit in your workout?"

"What workout?" Emma asked confusingly.

The only time she ever "worked out" was during gym, and she hated gym.

Lanie turned around to face her, jogging in place, "You don't workout?"

Emma shook her head, "Nope, sorry."

Lanie sucked in a deep breath and smiled happily at her, "No worries! You look like a kickboxing person to me, it's so much fun!"

_Great…_

_**Don't make me exercise!**_

_Like I want to!_

Emma shook her head, "No…that's okay. I'll just make me some toast."

Lanie shook her head and paused her DVD, jogging over to the kitchen and pulling a bottle out of the fridge, handing it to her.

Emma glanced at it.

Disgusting, revolting, eww!

"Um…what is this?" Emma asked nervously.

"It's breakfast, silly!" Lanie answered obviously.

Emma was not sure if "breakfast" would be the choice word she would use.

"Well go on, have a taste, it's really good." Lanie pushed.

_Why didn't she act like this yesterday?_

_**Mom and dad were here.**_

Emma lifted the top off of the bottle and pressed it to her lips, taking a slight swig.

It took her all to not spit it right back out.

It was _disgusting_!

"Um…what's in this exactly?" Emma asked, sitting it back down and glancing up at Lanie.

Lanie grinned, "Protein powder, grinded seeds, nuts, raw egg whites, and soymilk."

Okay, now Emma really had to hold it back in to spit it out.

"Oh…" she stated nervously.

"Good huh? Really gets you pumped."

_More like puked._

_**Pfft, that didn't make sense.**_

Emma nodded, "Mmm hmm…I can really feel the burn. I'm going to go…shower or something…" she stated before turning and hurrying off down the hallway.

"I'm going to the gym around eight, do you want to-"

"NO!" Emma hollered back as she hurried into her bedroom and closed the door.

It was official; she was living in a crazy house.

-x-

**Yep, another crappy chapter of mine! (Sorry, I'm not trying to throw a pity party for myself but I seriously think my past few chapters have been horrible)**

**Well I hope you guys liked it!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**


	25. Lanie's Love Advice

**AN: Hello, hello all of you fantabulous reviewers! Thanks for the reviews! And yes, I realize that was pretty awkward for Emma to tell her roommate about the whole STD thing (haha, I'm dumb :-p) and to anybody wondering about me being like Lanie (crazy work out monster) the answer is…oh God no, I wouldn't work out if you paid me…I love dancing and I'll do yoga (on occasion) but other than that…HA! Lol jk! **

**And OMG I am beyond sorry for these long updates, I've been working on this one book with my friend and it's up to page 277 now and I've been way too tangled up in it and have been abandoning this story and I am really sorry about that!**

**Once again, thanks everybody, I love you all!**

**Here's Chapter 25, hope you like!**

**Lotsa love, degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 25**

**-x-**

"I don't know Manny, I just feel like me moving here was _completely_ a mistake." Emma noted a few days later as she watched Lanie jog around outside from the window.

"Maybe she's freaked out a bit." Manny replied.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Why would she be freaked out by me? If anything_ I'm_ freaked out by _her_, which I am, of course."

"You told her you got an STD, she probably thinks that that's slightly just about all that you do."

Emma's eyes widened, "Manny!"

Manny laughed, "Hey, I'm sorry but…you know…it could be true…I mean, you guys have had-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Emma cut her short, "I mean, it's just scary here, she has been waking me up at six o'clock every morning and pressuring me to do Tae-Bo."

"Six AM? That's like…_way_ to early. For anyone. Period."

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, I know."

"At least she's perky."

Emma scoffed, "Yeah, she's got _that_ going for her alright."

"Have you talked to Jay?" Manny questioned.

"I haven't been able to get a hold of him for the past 3 days…" Emma lied.

Manny scoffed, "You liar, you haven't called him."

"I'm scared, Manny."

"Why?" Manny asked confusingly.

"Because every time I talk to him on the phone my world falls apart and I feel like I would give everything I own to be back in Toronto with him."

Manny didn't say anything.

"Manny?" Emma asked confusingly, "Hello, Manny? Manny, are you there?"

"Aww!" Manny squealed excitedly, "That is beyond romantic!"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well it's the truth. Every time I talk to him I just want to go back to Toronto and wish that everything were back to normal, and that I had never went to Montreal. Nothing good in my life has changed, all I'm doing is moping around missing my friends, family, and of course, Jay. It just seems so real when the only way I'm in contact with him is hearing his voice over the phone."

"But it's better than nothing, right?" Manny questioned.

"Way better."

-x-

Jay walked into his bedroom and threw his hat off before falling down onto the bed.

He glanced over at his nightstand and noticed an unfamiliar item sitting there.

A silver picture frame that read _2Gether, 4Ever_ and had a picture of him and Emma in it, it was the New Year's kiss, and there was another plain silver frame next to it with another picture of the two of them, Jay was sitting on the hood of his car and Emma was standing in front of it, his arms around her waist pulling her towards him, Emma's eyes were drifted down towards the ground and Jay's were staring at the side of Emma's face, both away from the camera, both had smiles on their faces that just signaled that they were in love with each other.

There was a note leaning against one of the picture frames, Jay picked it up:

_Hi Jay, it's Manny. I just figured I'd drop these off; I just got off the phone with Emma and decided to bring these to you. I left them with your mom so I'm not sure if she put these in a weird place or what._

_Anyways, I'll talk to you later._

_Bye!_

_-Manny_

_P.S. Emma _really_ misses you_.

Jay sighed and sat the note down before glancing over at the pictures of him and Emma.

"Why did you have to go, Em?" Jay asked, to the floor.

Yeah, because it would hold the answer to _that_ question.

Jay glanced back at the pictures once more before glancing at the phone that sat somewhere behind them.

He grabbed it and pressed in the buttons to Emma's apartment number.

-x-

Emma sat in the living room, watching as Lanie jogged in place.

_This is a great way to spend summer vacation, don't you think?_

_**Quiet, you.**_

Just then the phone rang, Emma leapt up to answer it.

She picked it up and glanced down at the Caller ID.

_HOGART, J_

Emma could feel her heartbeat quickening as she took the phone and hurried into another room, "Jay?" she asked quickly.

"Hey…how's it going up in Montreal, baby?" Jay asked.

Emma sighed and sat down on the foot of her bed, "Its going."

"You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I miss you."

Jay sighed, "I miss you too, Em."

"So how's work?" Emma asked, changing the subject.

"Its fine, I worked on a Ferrari a few days back."

"Are you serious?"

Jay laughed, "No. It was a 1958 Ford pickup, but I figured Ferrari sounded a bit…more exciting."

Emma laughed as well, "Yeah."

"So how's Lanie?" Jay asked.

Suddenly the _Twilight Zone_ theme song popped into Emma's head as well as Lanie's evilly perky face.

She shuddered at the thought, "She's great." She lied.

Jay sighed, "Well I guess that's good."

_Yeah, sure._

"So how are you holding up?" Emma asked.

"Doing okay, I guess." Jay shrugged.

Emma smirked, "Well aren't we the talkative one?"

Jay let out a very soft, low chuckle, "I miss you."

Emma sighed, "We already went over that." She laughed.

"I know. I just really do miss you. I'm not even positive if it has sunk in completely that you're actually gone."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Jay I'm not _dead_," She was beginning to picture herself as a rotting corpse coming out of the ground…eww, "just away."

"Yeah," Jay scoffed, "in college."

"Well you could come visit." Emma stated firmly.

Jay groaned, "Or you could come visit here, wouldn't that be better? Seeing as you're not in classes."

"I don't have a car to get down there with."

"Get a ride with Lanie."

"Oh yeah, sure." Emma rolled her eyes.

"I hate long distance relationships." Jay muttered to himself, or so he thought.

Emma's eyes widened, "What did you just say?"

"Huh?"

"You hate long distance relationships?"

"No, Em…I didn't mean _our_ relationship, I just meant…you know, long distance relationships in general." Jay stammered.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Well if you hate it so much-"

"I didn't say that!" Jay practically shouted over the phone towards her.

"You pretty much did Jay."

"_What_ is _with_ you!" Jay confusingly demanded.

Emma scoffed, "Me? What about you?"

"There is nothing wrong with me! You're just blowing up at me for no apparent reason!" Jay exclaimed.

"I am not!" Emma snapped.

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"What are we even fighting about?" Emma asked suddenly.

Jay sighed, "I have no idea."

"Oh my God…is this seriously what it'll be like from now on? Us fighting twenty-four seven over _nothing_?" Emma asked nervously.

"I hope not."

"Maybe long distance relationships really _don't_ work."

"No, Em…I didn't mean that." Jay proclaimed.

"Jay, I think you were right though."

"No…I wasn't right. I was wrong, dead wrong. Okay? I was wrong." Jay pleaded hurriedly, afraid of what might be next.

"I just…maybe it won't…maybe this isn't going to work-"

"It _will_ work Em, we'll make it work!" Jay exclaimed, he could feel those evil tears brimming up in his eyes, prepared for takeoff.

Emma shook her head, "Maybe we should-"

"No!" Jay practically shouted, "Stop. It will work, okay! We'll make it work, I swear to God we will!"

Emma could feel tears beginning to slowly drizzle down her cheeks, "Jay…I'm sorry. I don't want to be fighting all the time with you over nothing."

"We won't be, Em! For God's sake will you give this a chance!"

"Jay…I don't see how it's going to-"

"Yeah, well I do, okay? Don't end our relationship over something as stupid as that!"

"So now you think that this is stupid?" Emma asked.

Jay shook his head even though Emma couldn't see him, "That is not what I said, Em! Why are you putting words into my mouth?"

"See? I told you this isn't going to work."

"Yeah, because you're picking fights with me for no goddamn reason!"

"Well if we can pick fights that easily, than maybe it won't work."

"It _will_ work, I swear it will work, don't give up so easy."

"Jay…"

"Okay? You know what? Seeing as you have your heart set on this, I'll do it okay? It's over." Jay snapped in a very low voice before clicking off his phone.

Emma let out a small gasp and listened to the dial tone going through her ears before dropping the phone, and dropping down onto her bed, bursting into tears.

-x-

"Yeah, here's your receipt. Have a good day." Jay muttered, thrusting a receipt into a customer's hand along with a bag with a few wrenches in it.

"Jay, what is with you?" his co-worker Tony asked, eyeing him confusingly.

"Nothing." Jay mumbled.

Tony rolled his eyes, "I haven't seen you act this bizarre since…well never. You are barely talking."

Jay turned to him boredly, "I barely ever talk anyway? What's the fucking point? Everything I say comes out wrong, so why does it fucking matter?"

Tony shook his head at him, "If I hear that word out of your mouth again…"

Jay shrugged, "Yeah, whatever, sorry."

"Girl trouble, eh?"

Jay nodded slightly, "We broke up."

"You what!" a female voice exclaimed.

Jay turned only to see Manny Santos standing in front of the counter, staring at him in shock.

"What are you doing here, Santos?" Jay asked.

Manny glanced around disgustedly at the dirty auto shop before turning back to him, "I was coming to see if you got my note but…you guys broke up?"

Jay nodded.

"Why?" Manny demanded.

Jay shrugged, "We got into a fight, we said a few things, and it ended."

Manny crossed her arms over her chest, "You're cheating on her, aren't you?"

Jay's mouth formed the shape of an O, "What? No! She started the damn fight, not me!"

Manny rolled her eyes, "Yeah I bet."

"She did, Santos, look…I know that she's your best friend but she was _my_ girlfriend and I _never_ would have dumped her if she hadn't practically forced me into it."

"So you did dump her?" Manny stated.

Jay rolled his eyes, "She practically made me do it! She kept on saying how it wasn't going to work and how could I think it would work and shit like that so I just told her if she wanted it so bad then here you go."

Manny shook her head, "I can't believe you."

"It wasn't my fault!" Jay exclaimed.

Manny sighed, "Long distance relationships are hard."

"Yeah, you're telling me." Jay stated as he ran a bottle of car oil under the scanner.

"Then it wasn't really anybody's fault…it was bound to happen."

Jay nodded, "I didn't want it to."

_And I cried for almost an hour over it last night, I'm such a loser._

Manny shook her head, "I don't think she did either."

Jay sighed.

"Well I guess that I'm going to head out…I'll see you around, Jay."

"Later." Jay mumbled as he watched her turn and walk out of the shop.

Tony sighed, "You got dumped."

"I did not get dumped!" Jay exclaimed.

-x-

Emma lay sprawled out on the couch, a bowl full of popcorn next to her and a half-filled can of Pepsi in her hand as she watched a teary romance movie on television.

"Okay…this is the third day I've walked in here and saw you watching these corny movies, what is going on with you?" Lanie asked as she stepped into the living room, wearing a white sports bra with a jacket over it and a pair of track pants, Adidas tennis shoes on her feet.

"If my owly saniharry." Emma tried to speak with a mouth full of popcorn.

Lanie rolled her eyes, "And what is with all of this junk food?" she asked confusingly, kicking aside an empty bag of Doritos and an almost empty bag of Cheeto Puffs.

Emma sighed and just about burst into tears as she watched the couple on screen kiss.

"Are you okay?" Lanie asked nervously, sitting on the edge of the couch beside Emma.

Emma sniffled and turned to her, "I 'onno."

"Okay that's it." Lanie stated firmly and got up from the couch, taking the bowl of popcorn out of Emma's hand.

"WANEY!" Emma exclaimed, her mouth full of another handful of popcorn.

"You can not keep bumming around this apartment, what the hell is going on with you?" she asked, any sign of perkiness in her was officially gone as she rested her hands on her hips and eyed Emma.

Emma began to sniffle as she tossed her head down on the pillows of the couch and broke out into loud, ear piercing sobs.

"Emma!" Lanie exclaimed and ran towards her, plopping down on the floor in front of the couch.

Emma sighed and sat up as Lanie handed her a few Kleenex, Emma blew her nose before turning to Lanie, "Jay and I broke up."

Lanie gulped, "Oh…I'm really sorry, Em."

Emma shrugged, "It's my own fault. I blew up at him."

Lanie sighed, "We all do that sometimes."

Emma eyed her dumbly, "You don't…you're Miss Sunshine."

Lanie rolled her eyes and laughed, "Do I _look_ like Miss Sunshine to you? I barely have a life not dedicated to exercise."

"Then why don't you just do something about it?" Emma asked confusingly, turning towards her.

Lanie sighed, "I used to be overweight, like _really_ overweight. I hated exercising and I always ate junk food. I could barely run during gym and everybody would laugh at me. My mom always pressured me into doing something about it and working out with her and eating healthily, and I didn't want to."

"So what made you change your mind?"

"This one guy, he just made me feel _horrible_ about myself. He made fun of me in the hallway in front of people, embarrassed me, called me names, egged my house…just about anything possibly horrible. And the worst part was that I _really_ had a big crush on him."

Emma sighed and frowned.

"So after graduation, I decided to finally do something about my weight. I went to gyms, I ate healthy, I worked out…and it paid off. And around Christmas of last year…I saw that same guy, and he looked over my way and grinned at me, he walked over to me and asked for my name and I told him and he flat out started apologizing to me."

Emma laughed, "So what did you do?"

"I tossed my bottle of water straight in his face and walked off."

Emma laughed once again, "Go Lanie."

Lanie nodded and laughed before glancing over at a picture on her windowsill, he got up and grabbed it before walking back over towards Emma and handing it to her.

It was of Lanie and a boy with floppy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, her face was turned towards the camera with a big smile on her face while his eyes were shifted at her, a grin on his face.

"You know who that guy is?" Lanie asked.

Emma shook her head.

Lanie smiled as she glanced down at the picture before looking back up at Emma, "That's him."

Emma's eyes widened, "You mean…?"

Lanie nodded, "About a month after that, I got an email from him, he said that he got my address from a friend of mine and then he wrote up a _huge_ list of everything he was sorry for doing to me, that he did it out of peer pressure and that he would love it if I would call him and give him a chance to explain. So I did, and I found out that he is a really great, and slightly misunderstood, guy. We've been dating for four months now."

Emma sighed, "How could you forgive him after that?"

Lanie sighed, "It's something that love does to you, I really couldn't stand him at first but pretty soon I was really starting to fall for him again, and I was looking past everything he ever did to me and finding the true him, and I'm glad I did. I love Eric."

"So how does this help me any?" Emma asked confusingly.

Lanie shrugged, "All I'm saying is that maybe you should look past that fight or whatever caused you to break up, I mean, if he cheated on you then that's a different story, but I know that you really love him and I'm seriously betting that he loves you too."

Emma sighed, "He said he hated long distance relationships."

Lanie rolled her eyes, "Who doesn't?"

"Well I guess I did kind of pick the fight between us…" Emma stated nervously.

Lanie sighed and patted Emma on the arm, "Just give him a call or something, Em."

Emma smiled a teary smile towards Lanie and nodded, "I might just have to."

Lanie grinned, "But first, let's get this mess cleaned up, copeesh?"

Emma smiled, "Copeesh."

-x-

**Once again, so sorry about the long update...so sorry!**

**This story is coming to a close in the next chapter or so...tear, tear.**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love,**

**degrassichick**


	26. We Belong Together

**Well my reviewer buddies, the time has come.**

**MFH is coming to a close.**

**I just wanted to say how much I love every single one of you reviewers, you are _amazing_ and made me feel so great! Thank you tons!**

**So here is the final chapter, I hope you like!**

**R&R and please, no flames!**

**Lotsa love,**

**Degrassichick**

**-x-**

**Chapter 26**

**-x-**

Emma stayed true to her word, she called Jay.

But he didn't answer the phone that time.

She called him the next day and he didn't answer then either.

He didn't answer the next day, or the next week, or even for the next month!

It was obvious that he was ignoring her.

-x-

Jay lay on his bed, the phone in his hand, flipping through the past month's caller ID.

Emma had called him 17 times in the past month, and he hadn't answered the phone a single time.

Some days he just wasn't there, and others he just screened her calls.

It wasn't that he was so angry at her that he didn't want to talk to her; it was that he was afraid of what to say when he _did_ talk to her.

Just then the phone ran in his hand and he glanced down at it.

_Parker, L_

It was Emma, well Lanie's line, but Emma nonetheless.

He sighed, _just answer the phone and get it over with_, he thought to himself as it rang again...and again.

He pressed the _talk_ button, "Hello?"

The next thing he heard was a click and a dial tone.

-x-

"He answered and you _hung up_ on him?" Manny asked confusingly over the phone later on that night.

Emma sighed, "Horrible, I know. Do you think I should call him back?"

"I don't know, I do know however that it proves that neither of you guys have a backbone." Manny laughed.

"Well thanks Manny, your confidence in me is overwhelming."

Just then Lanie tapped on her doorframe, "I'm going out for a bite with Eric, did you want to come?"

Ever since her and Emma's talk, Emma had noticed that Lanie was a bit more open about actually going out to eat.

Emma sighed, she hadn't been out of the apartment much, maybe this would do some good for her.

Emma held up a finger to her before returning to her phone call, "Hey Manny, I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Okay sure, I'll see you, Em." Manny stated and clicked off her end of the phone.

Emma hung up and tossed the phone to her bed before slipping on a pair of flip flops and beginning to walk towards the living room, "Okay, let's go."

"You sure you don't want to change first?" Lanie asked with a laugh.  
Emma looked down at her attire, a white wife beater with a monkey on it and a pair of fuzzy blue pajama pants with monkey faces on them.

Emma spun around, "That may be a good idea."

-x-

The months torturously drug on for the couple.

Emma began to drift away from her evening attempted phone calls to Jay and spent more time with Lanie and Eric, and a few new friends…and studying for her classes.

Jay however, was basically dedicating his life to working at the auto shop and grieving over being to gutless to not call Emma up, he didn't care if she screamed at him for three hours straight about never calling, never answering the phone, never answering emails or writing letters, just as long as he could hear her voice he was okay with whatever she wanted to say.

He sat at the edge of his bed, phone resting in his palm, waiting to have numbers pressed into it.

He already had her phone number embedded in his memory: 758-555-5781, all he had to do was punch them in, which he did.

He listened as the phone rang…once…then twice…and then a third time before an answering machine came on and two girls were giggling.

"Hey this is Lanie…" the first girl said, and then the familiar voice rang through his ears, "And Emma, sorry we can't come to the phone right now…" then they both joined in for the ending followed by laughter and a beep, "So leave a message!"

Jay gulped as he listened to the beep; he sat there for what felt like an eternity, just thinking of something to say.

"Um…" he stammered nervously, he couldn't think of anything else but that, so he hung up.

_Real smooth, Hogart._

_**Shut up.**_

-x-

"That was a really great message." Lanie laughed to herself.

Emma closed the door to the apartment behind her, "What was?"

"Some guy," Lanie shrugged, "just said 'um' and hung up."

Emma sighed and walked off towards her bedroom and sitting her things on her bed and then sitting down at the foot of her bed, running her hand through her long hair.

She looked up for a moment and saw Lanie standing at her doorframe.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Well I figured out who called…Caller ID is truly a wonderful thing." Lanie smirked.

Emma glanced at her confusingly, "So who was it?"

Lanie tossed the phone towards her, "See for yourself." She stated plainly before turning and walking out of the room.

Emma picked up the phone and flipped through the Caller ID, landing on the last caller.

_Hogart, J_

Emma sucked in a deep breath, he had actually called her.

She pressed the _send_ button and listened as it rang.

-x-

The ringing of the telephone blared through Jay's ears as he lay on his bed.

He reached over and picked it up, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hello?" he mumbled.

"Jay…" a barely audible voice whispered.

"Yeah?" he asked confusingly.

The voice didn't answer, just clicked off.

Jay rolled his eyes and turned off the phone before checking the caller ID.

_Parker, L_

-x-

"So you're not even going to visit him?" Lanie asked awkwardly as the two drove down the road, aiming for Toronto a little over a month after the phone incident with Jay.

Emma shook her head, "I wouldn't know what to say to him."

Lanie rolled her eyes, "Well don't take a chance or anything."

"Look, I'm just coming down here to see my parents and friends."

"And you can't squeeze your ex in their?"

"Shut up Lanie." Emma muttered.

Lanie smirked and kept her gaze on the road, "You know I'm right."

Emma rolled her eyes and glanced ahead as they entered the city, she smiled slightly to herself…it was good to be home.

-

"Hey cutie…" Lanie squealed, sitting next to Jack on the couch.

Jack glanced at her nervously before looking up at Emma, "Where's Jay?"

Emma rubbed her lips together sadly before turning to her parents, "So how has everything been?"

Spike smiled at her, "Everything has been fine, Emma. How are your classes going?"

Emma shrugged, "As okay as classes can really be, I guess. I'm doing okay. I have a job at this coffee shop, which is pretty cool, Lanie works there too."

"_Emma…_" Jack whined.

Emma spun around and eyed him, "What is it Jack?"

"Where's Jay?" he demanded.

"He was just here yesterday, Jack." Spike stated softly.

_Yesterday!_

"He was here yesterday?" Emma questioned.

Spike nodded, "He's been coming a few times a week to spend time with Jack; he loves it."

_That is so adorable!_

**_That is _too_ adorable!_**

Emma felt the need to cry.

She turned around towards Lanie who had the 'I-told-you-so' look on her face.

Just then the doorbell rang.

Spike walked towards the door and opened it and suddenly Manny Santos came flying through the door and attacking Emma into a hug, "Emma!" she squealed excitedly.

"Manny…" Emma choked as Manny squeezed her.

Manny broke away, "Oh, sorry." She apologized with a smile playing on her lips, "I'm so happy to see you!"

Emma smiled at her, "It's really good to see you too."

Lanie smiled over at Manny.

"Manny, you remember, Lanie…Lanie, Manny."

Lanie grinned at her, "Hey."

Manny gave a weak smile, "Hi." She snapped, jealously shining through her tone.

"We were just talking about how interesting it was that Jay was coming here still." Lanie sighed.

Manny nodded, "Isn't it sweet?"

"Jay's a good guy." Snake proclaimed, "A few rough edges, but he's a good guy. Jack loves him."

_Jack's not the only one._

Just hearing her dad talk about Jay was killing her and making her realize how much she truly missed him.

"_Em-ma!_" Jack exclaimed, "Where is he?"

Emma could feel the tears bubbling up in her eyes before she broke away from her family and friends and jogged towards the basement door, hurrying downstairs.

"I'll go after her." Lanie stated, beginning to get up.

Manny held her hand out to her, "_I'm _her best friend, _I'll_ go." She snapped before hurrying towards the basement.

As soon as she made it towards the bottom step, she saw Emma sprawled out on her bed, her head buried into her pillows.

"Em…" Manny sighed, sitting on the bed and rubbing her hand over Emma's back.

"I miss him!" she cried out, "I miss him _so _much, you have no idea, I can barely even function and I _hate_ it!"

Manny wanted to cry for her best friend as she watched her sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered.

Emma let out a quivery sigh, "I told Lanie that I didn't want to see Jay when I came her, but I was wrong. He's the main reason I came here practically. I didn't even care if I didn't get to see him, just being in the same city as him just made me feel, I don't know…more secure. Does that make sense?"

Manny let out a very soft laugh, "In a few ways, yeah."

Emma gulped, "These past few months, regardless to the fact that I've had fun, have been some of the _worst_ months of my life. I feel so miserable, so lost…"

"Then I think you should maybe do something about it, Em."

Emma flipped onto her back and locked her eyes with Manny's, "What?"

"Why don't you go see him?" Manny suggested.

"I can't!" Emma exclaimed, "I wouldn't know the _first_ thing to say to him."

Manny shrugged, "You never know unless you try."

Emma sighed, "I just don't know what I would say."

"Is 'Hey Jay' too boring for you or something?" Manny questioned.

Emma rolled her eyes and sat up, rubbing her eyes which she was sure were glossy and red, "What if he hates me?"

Manny shook her head, "Trust me, he doesn't hate you. Why would he come here all the time if he didn't?"

"Because he likes Jack…?" suggested Emma.

Manny shook her head, "That might be part of it but no, it's because he is so in love with you to care."

Emma sighed, "That barely made any sense."

"He loves you, Em. Could you see Chris actually coming here and playing with your brother?"

Emma turned away, "Well…"

"Exactly, how about Sean?"

Emma shrugged, "Sean might…"

Manny rolled her eyes, "But he wouldn't care as much as Jay does, Em. He is absolutely crazy about you, and I just know it. I've stopped by his job a few times and anytime I mention you, his face lights up. Plus he carried a picture of the two of you in his wallet, it's pretty cute actually."

Emma sniffled, "Are you serious?"

Manny nodded, "Dead serious."

Emma got up off of her bed and examined herself in the mirror.

Her clothes were okay, just a sky blue wife beater with a white shrug over it and a pair of sandblasted light blue jeans with white flip flops.

Her hair was frazzled however, and her face was a mess.

"And I bet if he saw you right now he would think that you looked beautiful." Manny stated.

Emma turned to face her, "Now I know you're just kidding. How many romance movies have you been watching?"

Manny rolled her eyes and laughed, "I'm _serious_, Em."

Emma turned to glance back at herself once again in the mirror, "Don't get it."

"Tell you what, let's get you cleaned up a bit and then you can go see Jay." Manny stated.

Emma turned, "What if I'm not ready?"

"Trust me, after listening to you sob, you're ready." She stated and looped her arm through Emma's hauling her off towards the bathroom.

-x-

Jay closed the hood of the car he was working on and glanced outside the garage as storm clouds grayed over the sky.

"Hey Jay, I think I'm about to take off." Tony stated, wiping his hands with a paper towel and walking across the garage.

Jay nodded, "Alright, see you."

"You might want to get out of here before the storm breaks through; it's supposed to be pretty big." Tony warned him.

Jay shrugged, "I'll be fine, just want to finish up a few things."

Tony glanced outside as rain began to sprinkle, "Suit yourself. See you Monday." He replied before jogging off through the parking lot and towards his car.

Jay sighed and glanced around the garage slightly, he was done with everything that needed to be done all he had to do was go home.

But for some reason, he didn't want to. He felt as if something important was going to happen and that he was going to miss it.

He wasn't sure what, but he had a very strong feeling.

-x-

"Just drop me off here." Emma stated hurriedly as Manny rounded a corner, she could see Jay's Civic sitting in the parking lot.

"I can pull into the lot." Manny stated.

Emma shook her head, "No thanks." She stated and climbed out of Manny's Miata.

Manny rolled her eyes as she watched Emma run off down the street.

So much for all the touch ups of her make up.

-x-

"Jay!" a faint voice shouted.

Jay glanced up, now he was hearing things, how perfect.

"Jay!" the voice shouted again.

Jay walked towards the garage opening and saw as a blonde went running through the rain.

His eyes widened and he dropped the wrench that he was cleaning off.

_Clank_, it hit the floor, but he didn't notice.

That couldn't be Emma, it just couldn't be.

He walked out of the garage and into the rain as the girl neared him, her wet hair sticking together and bouncing up and down as she ran.

It was Emma.

"Emma?" he questioned, hurrying towards her as well.  
The two met face to…nose; Emma wasn't quite as tall as him.

She glanced up at him, her chest heaving up and down from running.

"What are you doing here?" he practically had to shout through the rapid rain.

Emma smiled up at him, "What do you think I'm doing here, Jay?" she asked, lacing her arms around his neck and smiling at him.

Jay smiled down at her, "I'm sorry about everything."

Emma grinned, "So am I."

"We'll make this Emma, I know we can."

"So do I."

Jay grinned, "And I-"

He got cut short when he felt Emma's wet lips against his own.

Jay wove his arms around her waist and pressed her closer towards him as the two passionately continued to kiss.

They broke away minutes later, Emma smiled at him, "I love you, Jay."

Jay grinned, "I love you too, Green Peace." He stated before pulling her into another kiss.

-x-x-x-

The two had agreed to stay in contact; they visited each other every other weekend and spent as much time together as possible when they did.

They wrote letters back and forth and called each other or instant messaged every night.

But for some reason, although the past six months of them being together was great, Jay still felt as if something was missing.

He missed Emma, he didn't like being away from her all the time, and there was only one reasonable conclusion left.

-x-

"Why are you such a workaholic?" Lanie asked with a laugh as she watched Emma scrub the counter in _Hanson's Coffee Café_ clean.

Emma laughed, "Can I help it if I'm a bit OCD at times?"

"At times? That's an understatement." Jenna, another worker, stated.

Emma rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Wouldn't I love to have a car like that…" Jenna awed, her eyes shifted towards the window as she let out a low whistle.

"Car like what?" Emma questioned, looking towards the window as well, a saucer in her hand.

"The guy's not too bad either." Jenna laughed.

Emma finally saw the car and guy in question.

The saucer dropped towards the floor, glass shards flying.

"Emma, what's wrong?" Lanie asked nervously.

"Oh my God…" Emma murmured as she saw what car and what guy Jenna liked so much.

It was along the lines of a red-orange Civic and a boy with brown hair and a backwards hat.

She wiped her hands on her apron before pulling it off and throwing it to the ground, leaving her in a black tee shirt and a pair of newsboy striped slacks.

She hurried out the door and into the street.

"I saw him first…" Jenna scoffed.

-x-

"Jay!" Emma exclaimed, racing towards him and throwing her arms around his neck.

He grabbed her by the bottom of her thighs and pulled her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as they met in a kiss.

Emma glanced down at him, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Jay smiled at her, pressing his lips against hers once again before jerking his head back towards his Civic, where Emma could see a duffle bag and a few boxes.

"Jay…" Emma drifted.

"I'm moving to Montreal." Jay stated.

Emma could feel tears forming in her eyes as Jay let her go back to the ground, her feet hitting the paved street, "Are you serious?"

Jay nodded with a smile beaming on his face, a smile that only Emma could ever give to him, "I looked up apartments in Montreal over the net, I'm going to start rooming with this guy named Eric."

Emma's mind immediately flew to Lanie's boyfriend, Eric Sanders, who was looking for a roommate. He was actually nice, just like Lanie had said. She spent a lot of time with him and Lanie, they were actually growing to be pretty good friends.

"Eric Sanders?" Emma questioned.

"You know him?" Jay asked, slight worry in his voice.

Emma nodded, "Its Lanie's boyfriend."

"Well it is a small world, huh?" Jay laughed.

Emma swung her arms around his neck once again and pulled him into a kiss, "A very small world."

Jay grinned down at her.

"So you're really staying?" Emma asked.

Jay grinned, "Yeah, I'm really staying."

Emma could feel tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't cry! I was hoping you'd be happy."

Emma shook her head and slugged him, "Of course I'm happy, you moron!"

Jay scoffed, "Well thanks."

Emma rolled her eyes at him, "Anytime." She grinned and pulled him into one more earth shattering kisses. The type that would make Hollywood jealous.

The type that only they could share.

**-x-**

**Ta-da! Wow…I finished it!**

**Holy crap, I actually finished it.**

**Now I'm sad! **

**This story took me almost an entire year to finish but I loved all of it (well except for those very torturously long author's blocks!), I really, really loved you guys' feedback, you are absolutely the best people ever!**

**So once again, I have to thank all of the reviewers for reviewing, I love you to death! And I also want to thank Linzer-B, who gave me this idea in the first place.**

**Thank you!**

**Lotsa love,**

**Degrassichick**


	27. To MFH Readers

**To all readers of My Finest Hour:**

**Hello-hello! Okay, so I know this story has almost hit its "complete-for-a-year" anniversary, and I was bored in study hall yesterday and I just started jotting down a prologue…for a sequel to My Finest Hour.**

**I already have the prologue and half of chapter one completed, all I have to do is type it up into Word and posted, but I thought I'd give you a heads up beforehand.**

**I just wanted to tell you guys how much it meant to me that I got over 830 reviews on this story, I mean _wow_. It was the highest reviewed Degrassi story on FanFiction, which seriously almost made me cry! **

**I was just reading over some of your reviews from this story, you guys seriously brought tears to my eyes, THANK YOU!**

**I haven't been reading Degrassi FF's very much anymore, but with the new season _just_ around the corner (me and my BFF are watching all three showings that Friday, lol…well, any probably TiVo'ng it, haha), I decided to make the sequel for it. **

**So I hope you'll all R&R, because you guys are amazing!**

**It should be posted later on tonight.**

**Lotsa love, **

**Degrassichick**


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